Roughing it under the FDR Drive: How one
homeless couple lives amid trying times
BY DEAN MOSES
Alex Lively and April Saccoccio
are akin to any married couple.
They dote over their two pet dogs
named Buddy and Snoopy, they rest their
weary feet on a plush carpet, and they cook
themselves dinner every evening.
But they do not have a typical home —
so they made themselves one under the
FDR Drive in Lower Manhattan.
For the past 10 months, the pair have
built a makeshift home under the trestle of
the famous highway, as thousands of cars
rumble overhead daily. They’ve used found
objects and donated items along the way,
including a panel room divider, a series
of large umbrellas, and art canvases, to
provide themselves with some semblance
of seclusion from the passing world just
outside of what is swiftly becoming a
rather large encampment.
Inside these crude walls they own a
mattress, a heater, hand sanitizer, and
even a beauty mirror — things found in
the majority of households throughout
New York. They likewise own cellphones
and portable chargers they power up at
public outlets. Their pets lounge in dog
beds and chomp down on bones. This
small patch has become a haven of their
own making.
The sizable shelter is also now a recognizable
monument to many motorists,
pedestrians, and nearby residents, but not
all consider it an eyesore.
Over the course of their brief tenure
in the neighborhood, they have swiftly
become accepted members of the community,
telling amNewYork Metro that they
credit local residents with their survival
The shelter has grown in size over the 10-month period.
who often stop by for a chat, and often gift
them with food and money.
“Believe it or not we came here with
three little carriages and some blankets.
A lot of this stuff you see is what people
have given us. People have really made
life easier for us. It’s like a bedroom, just
outside. New Yorkers are awesome,” Lively
said as he cooked some noodles for his wife
on their barbecue stove, fueled by small
ethanol heat cans.
Lively became homeless after suffering
from a severe shoulder injury that required
surgery and, in turn, prevented him from
continuing his profession as a masonry
apprentice and other blue-collar work.
Homelessness was neither an overnight
process nor a choice. After three years of
struggling, selling his car and using up his
entire savings, he had nothing left.
PHOTOS BY DEAN MOSES
Although they were already living rough
on the streets prior to the advent of the
COVID-19 virus, the couple moved to
their current dwelling in direct response to
the pandemic, which they say is terrifying
Alex Lively shows The Villager how he cooks food.
since their future seems to be more uncertain
than ever. Swirling rumors amongst
the homeless population generated a sense
of unease regarding where they could be
forced to relocate.
“At the beginning of the pandemic
we were in Times Square. We saw how
everything was getting shut down. There
was talk of the national guard coming in
and making people get off the streets, so
we were nervous,” Lively explained.
With the lockdown imminent, the pair
moved downtown in hopes of fi nding
sanctuary from COVID-19, and all the
implications that it wrought.
“Being here was the best move that
we made because we are away from everybody.
It’s not like everybody is coming
over here.”
Although they now consider the area
home, living here isn’t easy.
They’re subjected to a small number of
people have been known to stop by and
gawk at their unique home. The husbandand
wife team also say that at least one of
them must be present at the encampment
at all times, otherwise other homeless
individuals will attempt to take their
belongings.
They also claim that the NYPD does
not take their call for aid seriously during
times when thefts have occurred..
With the dawn of a new year, Lively
and Saccoccio are looking to 2021 with
hopeful eyes, like countless other New
Yorkers.
This little bedroom on the street is not
their ideal homestead, nor is it where they
foresee themselves spending the majority
of their future. One day soon they hope to
move to a building with four brick walls
and a roof, but fi rst they will need to overcome
some obstacles.
“They had a room for us at a hotel,
but my wife is disabled, and her dogs are
emotional support animals. They the
hotel are telling us we need paperwork to
declare the dogs as support. We just need
the paperwork. It would be nice to be able
to shower r The pair uses a heater to keep warm during the winter months. egularly,” Lively joked.
4 January 7, 2021 Schneps Media