Depending on where you live and what your local history looks like, it is very typical that there was some sort of Wild West type property scramble at least once in your local history. Usually this is a result of lack of housing.
In Toronto, for example, there was the "Great Shacktown Crisis" of 1907-1908 where entire neighbourhoods sprung up with people living in boxes. Children wouldn't go to school in winter because they didn't have boots, etc. And these major crises led to significant expansions in housing availability at prices the market could tolerate.
Now these shantytowns just get torn down by police for being unsafe instead. Blah blah firecode. Do you think homelessness is going to be solved by forced evictions?
Anyway.