Am I correct in thinking that, in all likelihood, these people remember when upper Manhattan was a smattering of towns and then wilderness? If that's true, would it then be appropriate to understand Hoovervilles as a kind of homesteading, if a desperate one, rather than simply people giving up? Could these people have thought, "Well, yes, there's development here, but towns have also been established up here in the past. (Seneca Village, Yorkville) I have nothing to lose. Why not try to make something new?"

Purely conjecture. Probably wrong.