It's all how you spin it, neighbor.
Is this the chicken lady that started a semi-farm on a couple or abandon lots she had to pay an arm and a leg for ???
Take a ride on Amtrack, Boston to DC. Mid spring and going through the worse slums I in the North have ever seen is when you go past NJ. Strange but the abandoned factory's with 3 + story's of broken windows have a forth or 5 th story of un broken windows, air conditioners and cabal dishes attached. The roofs have been turned into gardens, some small sheds that look like chicken coops, or pidgin lofts.
Have been told by regular commuters they have also seen goats, cows grazing on the abandoned property around the buildings. Looking down into the streets not a lot of cars or trucks, makes me wonder where the people are.
Then there are the real old depression photos that show much the same thing of how the poor survived that time and age. Living in a big city with little to help oneself, filthy water and cold water flats, little to non medical care and lucky were those that had shoes for their feet.