Urban areas in developing countries may seem to be very insecure places to the untrained observer, but at the same time, they somehow continue to provide for the basic needs of the poor and homeless. This is particularly observable in growth areas like Southeast Asia, where human security issues appear due to, or at least adjacent to, rapid development. This study focuses on the impoverished population of two cities, Makati and San Juan, in Metropolitan Manila, the densely-populated National Capital Region of the Philippines. It tries to show that urban physical space itself may have various unorthodox, instrumental uses, and serves as an unplanned source of nourishment or shelter for those unable to afford necessities, and those who are still unreached or ineligible for government housing programs. This leads to a discussion of how and why officials and institutions in charge may fail to address the plight of the urban poor, and therefore a justification for temporary, if sometimes unsightly, maintenance of the unstructured, loose flow of informal goods and services through urban neighborhoods, if only to allow the marginalized folk to survive, at least until the government, the private sector, and civil society can pull their act together and reconstruct an environment that frees the poor from want and physical danger.