When widespread homelessness emerged in the early 1980s, explanations were of two sorts. On the one hand, the large numbers of troubled and troublesome people among the homeless poor suggested to some observers that homelessness was best explained by the personal limitations of those who became homeless. Baumohl states in his book Homeless in America that "According to this perspective, people were homeless because something was wrong with them- (25). They were severely mentally ill, for instance, or end-of-the-line substance abusers-people incapable of caring for themselves, unable to keep themselves housed, and newly visible because of drastic changes in policies that had previously kept them institutionalized in hospitals or jails. Maybe they had trouble maintaining relationships and therefore lacked the protective buffer of supportive family and friends or worst of all, they rejected conventional responsibilities and had chosen homelessness (Timmer 156). .
In 1984, The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development defined a homeless person as one who spends the night in public or private emergency shelters. These shelters take a variety of forms such as armories, schools, churches, government buildings, former firehouses, and can also include temporary vouchers that are provided by public and private agencies, even hotels, apartments, or boarding homes. Included in the definition are those who spend nights on the streets, parks, subways, bus terminals, railroad stations, airports, under bridges or aqueducts, abandoned buildings, cars, trucks, or any other public or private space that is not designed for shelter ( Baum 291). The question is why doesn't this definition include persons who are staying with friends and family or who can afford to rent a hotel room on a temporary basis? In some states, the homeless are defined as the people on the street who, in seeking shelter, have no alternative but to obtain shelter from a private or public agency.