Or possibly were subletting a room, fell out with their room-mates, got thrown out and never got their deposit/stuff back so couldn’t get another room?
Just WAG.
Little of Column A and little of Column B. In my case, my mental state wasn’t all that great while renting rooms.
This thread reminded me of the stereotypical blue eyed blonde White Supremacist who was in the same shelter for a short time. Pretty much all the other residents called him “Hitler”.