Documentary: Dark Days

Dark Days is a REAL doumentary that thrusts the viewer into the lives of humans living in inhumane conditions and surviving in the underground tunnels of Manhattan in 2000. To the residents, these tunneles provided them with more safety and security than on the outside world. You can watch them struggle with crack cocaine additions and listen to their back stories of loss of children, growing up with parental abuse, and serving prison time. Some of the residents include young adult runaways who prefer the filfthy conditions and darkness of the underground than the homes they escaped from. This film surprisingly ended on a high note when the police came down into the tunnels to evict all the homeless occupants. Because they had nowhere else to go, the makers of the documentary sued the city for forcing out people who have lived there for decades. This forced the city to settle and provide housing for those being evicted and you can see the pure joy that came with finally being able have a normal life again and living in a real home. This really emphasized the need for Permanent Supporting Housing and how it's an effective long-term solution in the fight to end homelessness. As one of the previous tunnel occupants was setting up in his provided apartment and making plans for his new future he stated, “You don’t realize how bad it was until you step out of it…I was living a nightmare and I woke up and I’m staying awake.”

Go to amazon.com to watch Dark Days.