While politicians might take the heat for failed or poorly executed shelter projects, government responses to national and local level housing problems are always addressed by some form of bureaucracy, which should, in principle, share responsibility for homelessness. Taking Metro Manila as an example--with a historical 25-30% poverty level and a correspondingly persistent need for providing homes to the urban poor--this research describes the sometimes unharmonious plethora of shelter-related agencies established by government to try to attack the problem from different angles, as well as street-dwellers' reaction to inconsistent assistance. Combined with a review of legal frameworks and definitions of civil and criminal liability, the author shows that because of the complexities of urban areas and administrative structures themselves, culpability cannot be pinned on unitary actors, and at least in the case of information housekeeping, must be fairly imputed to unhurried and unsolicitous bureaucratic agents.