Unemployment rates were horrible during the Great Depression. They actually reached 25%! That meant that a lot of people had no way to earn a living.
Soon they couldn’t afford a place to live, and they found themselves homeless. They had to find some kind of shelter.
There weren’t enough homeless shelters or other accommodations, so most of the workers had nowhere to go. So they banded together and built shantytowns. These shantytowns were called Hoovervilles after the US president of the time, Herbert Hoover.
Life was tough in these Hoovervilles. Some men were lucky, and knew how to built decent shelters. But most lacked those skills, and so lived in whatever they could. Some men even slept on the ground.
They had to beg for food to avoid starving. Many of the residents worked odd jobs when they could, but these were few and far between. So many started micro-businesses as well. They sold scrap, peddled their wares on the street, and even fished and hunted for food.
Unfortunately, these shantytowns had little to no sanitation. They also didn’t have any garbage removal. Most of the men tried to keep their shacks clean, but it was hard to keep the camps clean. That’s why the rats ran wild all over the shantytowns.
Most of these shantytowns sprung up in large cities. The governments didn’t like these shantytowns, and the men were often harassed by the police. Many times, governments evicted the people and even burned down the shantytowns.
They usually didn’t care what happened to these people. They just wanted them to go away. You should start thinking long and hard about how you’ll make sure you don’t end up in a similar situation if this recession deepens into a depression. It’s depressing, I know, but it’s a necessary task.