ial towns; each town was required to care for its own poor. In order to receive any help one had to be a "settled" member of the town and settlement rights were acquired by being voted into the town or being born into a "settled "family. Newcomers could petition the town for settlement rights and those that had the best chance of supporting themselves were voted into the town. Others, who the town saw as possible burdens, were often "warned" to leave town. These people became transient poor, shunted from town to town because in each and every place they were denied settlement rights. (Rossi, 1989)
             Similarly, nineteen-century Americans were as indifferent toward the homeless as those of the Elizabethan age. After the end of the Civil war the increase in homeless people was considerable. Civil war veterans, immigrants and other young males were put to work on the railroads. The transient lifestyle suited them and the railroads used them to meet their demands for labor. The second half of the nineteenth century saw several severe economic downturns and the surge in the number of homeless people increased. (Rossi, 1989) The latter part of the nineteenth century gave way to services that helped the poor and homeless. The rise of the skid row in American cities was a means to segregate the poor. The businesses in skid row were there to cater to these transient people where hotels and restaurants provided food and shelter for the laborers at inexpensive prices. The height of the skid row populations was reached in the early decades of the twentieth century. (Rossi, 1989)
             The Great Depression of the 1930's was what most people consider the time that greatest number of homeless peop
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