Even though many feel the plight of the homeless is solely a result of choices and behavior, all across America, many people are living without shelter and sleep on our streets, alleyways, under freeways and even more detrimental, these individuals often live without hope. Not only are homeless people visibly evident to all of us, there is a great deal of statistical data to support this growing epidemic in our country.
             The definition of a homeless person was outlined by the Stewart B. McKinney Act, 42 U.S.C. § 11301, et seq. (1994) as "...a person is considered homeless who "lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence and; and...has a primary night time residency that is: (A) a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations... (B) an institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized, or (C) a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings." 42 U.S.C. § 11302(a) The term "'homeless individual' does not include any individual imprisoned or otherwise detained pursuant to an Act of Congress or a state law." 42 U.S.C. §11302(c)" (National Coalition for the Homeless)
             Over the past twenty years there has been no mystery about the plight of the homeless; however, does this social issue have historical roots? In the past, the issue of homelessness was treated with contempt and fear. Many people who could not support themselves were run out of the smaller towns and into the larger cities where they could pass without notice. Since the dawn of human civilization there have been poor and destitute people without food and shelter. America, the land of opportunity, has had since its beginnings the same problems of every nation before it; poverty and homeless people.
             During the seventeenth century, Elizabethan poor laws governed colon...