America's attitudes toward its most destitute citizens have always been sharply polarized. Consider, for instance, the philosophical divide between Emerson's uncharitable self-reliance ("Are they my poor?") and proto-liberal Thoreau's opinion that "none can be an impartial or wise observer of human life but from the vantage ground of what we should call voluntary poverty." Yet the ideas of self-reliance and voluntary poverty often converge in the classic American "bindlestiff" (or hobo) figure who hops trains or hitchhikes across the country, forever living on the margins of an unforgiving marketplace. And while the image of the homeless-by-choice hobo benefits from being associated with the dream of American independence and freedom, what about those rendered homeless by forces beyond their control? The non-voluntary

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