Homelessness

Encyclopedia : H : HO : HOM : Homelessness

U.S. and may not present a [WikiProject Countering systemic biasworldwide view].
Please [http://encycl.opentopia.com/ improve the article] or discuss the issue on the [talk page].

Homeless woman.

Homelessness or transience is a situation in which a person unwillingly does not have a long term residence. While such groups as nomadic cultures, travellers and migrant workers are also transient, this is through choice. Unwillingly homeless people may be found in all parts of the world in varying situations, sometimes due to natural disaster, political unrest, war, famine or personal misfortune.

Contents

History of homelessness

Transience, vagrancy, and the poor have been with society a long time.

In the 16th century in England, the state first tried to give housing to vagrants instead of punishing them, by introducing bridewells to take vagrants and train them for a profession. In the 18th century, these were replaced by workhouses but these were intended to discourage too much reliance on state help. These were later replaced by dormitory housing ("spikes") provided by local boroughs, and these were researched by the writer George Orwell. By the 1930s in England, there were 30,000 people living in these facilities. In the 1960s, the nature and growing problem of homelessness changed for the worse in England, with public concern growing. The number of people living "rough" in the streets had increased dramatically.

In general, in most countries, many towns and cities had an area which contained the poor, transients, and afflicted, such as a "skid row". In New York City, for example, there was an area known as "The Bowery", traditionally, where alcoholics were to be found sleeping on the streets, bottle in hand. This resulted in rescue missions, such as the oldest homeless shelter in New York City, The Bowery Mission [link], founded in 1879.

In smaller towns, there were hobos, who temporarily lived near train tracks and hopped onto trains to various destinations. Especially following the American Civil War, a large number of homeless men formed part of a counterculture known as "hobohemia" all over America. Depastino, Todd, "Citizen Hobo: How a Century of Homelessness Shaped America" [link]

However, modern homelessness as we know it, started as a result of the economic stresses in society, reduction in the availabilty of affordable housing, such as SROs, for poorer people, and, in the United States, in the late 1970s, the deinstitutionalisation of patients from state psychiatric hospitals was a precipitating factor Scherl D.J., Macht L.B., "Deinstitutionalization in the absence of consensus", Hospital and Community Psychiatry, 1979 Sep;30(9):599-604 [link] which seeded the homeless population in the United States, especially New York City.

The Community Mental Health Act of 1963 Rochefort, D.A., "Origins of the 'Third psychiatric revolution': the Community Mental Health Centers Act of 1963", Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, 1984 Spring;9(1):1-30. [link] was a pre-disposing factor in setting the stage for homelessness in the United States. Long term psychiatric patients were released from state hospitals into SROs and sent to community health centers for treatment and follow-up. It never quite worked out properly and this population largely was found living in the streets soon thereafter with no sustainable support system.Feldman, S., "Out of the hospital, onto the streets: the overselling of benevolence", Hastings Center Report, 1983 Jun;13(3):5-7. [link] Borus J.F., "Sounding Board. Deinstitutionalization of the chronically mentally ill", New England Journal of Medicine, 1981 Aug 6;305(6):339-42. [link]

Also, as real estate prices and neighborhood pressure increased to move these people out of their areas, the SROs diminished in number, putting most of their residents in the streets.

Other populations were mixed in later, such as people losing their homes for economic reasons, and those with addictions, the elderly, and others.

Many places where people were once allowed freely to loiter, or purposefully be present, such as churches, public libraries and public atriums, became more strict as the homeless population grew larger and congregated in these place more than ever. As a result, many churches closed their doors when services were not being held, libraries enforced a "no eyes shut" and sometimes a dress policy, and most places hired private security guards to carry out these policies, creating a social tension. Many public toilets were closed.

The Bowery Rescue Mission in New York City in the 1800s

This banished the homeless population to sidewalks, parks, under bridges, and the like. They also lived in the subway and railroad tunnels in New York City. They seemingly became socially invisible, which was the intention of many of the enforcement policies.

The homeless shelters, which were generally night shelters, made the homeless leave in the morning to whatever they could manage and return in the evening when the beds in the shelters opened up again for sleeping.

There was also the reality of the "bag" people, the shopping cart people, and the soda can collectors. These people carried around all their possessions with them all the time since they had no place to store them. If they had no access to or capability to get to a shelter and possible bathing, their hygiene was lacking. This again created social tensions in public places.

These conditions created an upsurge in Tuberculosis and other diseases in urban areas.

In 1979, a New York City lawyer, Robert Hayes, brought a class action suit before the courts, Callahan v. Carey, against the City and State, arguing for a person's state constitutional "right to shelter". It was settled as a consent decree in August 1981. The City and State agreed to provide board and shelter to all homeless men who met the need standard for welfare or who were homeless by certain other standards. By 1983 this right was extended to homeless women.

By the mid-1980s, there was also a dramatic increase in family homelessness. Tied into this was an increasing number of runaway children, teenagers, and young adults, which created a new sub-stratum of the homeless population.

Several organisations in some cities, such as New York and Boston, tried to be inventive about help to the swelling number of homeless people. In New York City, for example, in 1989, the first street newspaper was created called "Street News" Harman, Dana, "Read all about it: street papers flourish across the US", The Christian Science Monitor, November 17, 2003. [link] which put some homeless to work, some writing, producing, and mostly selling the paper on streets and trains. It was written pro bono by a combination of homeless, celebrities, and established writers. In 1991, in England, a street newspaper, following on the New York model was established, called "The Big Issue" [link] and was published weekly. Its circulation grew to 300,000. Chicago has "StreetWise" which has the largest circulation of its kind in the United States, thirty thousand. Boston has a "Spare Change" newspaper built on the same model as the others: Homeless helping themselves.

Increasingly, it has become hard for the non-homeless population to understand the homeless. There are, on the street, many looks of homelessness. Some are hustlers masquerading as homeless, simply to make money, some are substance-abusing people who live in flop-houses or on the street whose main incentive to panhandle is to get their liquor or drugs, whilst others are the hard-core homeless, for the most part destitute and without a home address and telephone, and likely mentally confused or simply downtrodden in life and spirit and living on the street or in a public emergency shelter. These images confound most working people and make the situation for the truly homeless a much more difficult one.

The problem in developed countries

A homeless man pushes a cart down the street.

Homelessness in developed countries can produce a vicious circle. With no phone number, permanent address, or place to get changed and washed, it can be difficult to find or maintain a job; and without a job it can be difficult to raise the money or gain the references needed to acquire accomodation.
With no accomodation or income the homeless may become dependant on assistance from friends, family, the local community, charities or the state. Organisations such as Shelter and Crisishttp://www.crisis.org.uk/ assist those who are homeless. However, according to the [NCH] and the [NLCHP] some cities in the USA have laws such as "anti-lodging" (preventing camping outdoors), "anti-panhandling" (preventing begging) and "loitering and vagrancy laws" which "allow for arbitrary enforcement by law enforcement officials."National Coalition for the Homeless. [A Dream Denied: The Criminalization of Homelessness in U.S. Cities]. Retrieved 2006-05-11. The constitutionality of these laws is under dispute.
Putting a homeless person in jail will give them a criminal record, which makes it more difficult to secure a job. This trend is referred to as the criminalization of homelessness.
While subsidized housing makes it easier to gain access to housing, government cuts can easily narrow the scope of people who may benefit from it.

Terms for homelessness
The term most often used in the late 20th century is "homeless". However, other terms include: vagrant, tramp, hobo, bum, sturdy beggar, or the wandering poor. The term '(of) No Fixed Abode' (NFA) is used in legal circumstances.
More recently, many advocates and individuals who have experienced homelessness prefer using the term “houseless” to reflect more accurately the fact that the problem resides not with the lack of a home, which carries with it connotations including propinquity to family and other meta-physical notions, but with the more concrete problem of not having a house or apartment in which to live.

Causes

A homeless Frenchman.

Most researchers attempt to make a distinction between: 1) why homelessness exists, in general, and 2) who is at-risk of homelessness, in specific. Homelessness has always existed since urbanization and industrialization.
Factors placing an individual at high-risk of homelessness include:
Poverty: People living in poverty are at a higher risk of becoming homeless.
Serious Mental Illness and Disability: It has been estimated that approximately one-third of all adult homeless persons have some form of mental illness and/or disability. In previous eras, these individuals were institutionalized in state mental hospitals. According to the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill (NAMI), there are 50,000 mentally ill homeless people in California alone because of deinstitutionalization between 1957 and 1988 and a lack of adequate local service systems.[link] Plus, 60% of homeless people in the United States have Autism.
Foster Care background: This population experienced rates of homelessness nearly 8 times higher than the non-foster care population.
Escaping domestic abuse, including sexual, physical and mental abuse: Victims who flee from abuse often find themselves without a home. Abused children also have a higher chance of succumbing to a drug addiction, which contributes to difficulties in establishing a residence.Homeless Agency. [Facts about Homelessness: Causes of Homelessness]. Retrieved 2006-05-10. In 1990 a study found that half of homeless women and children were fleeing abuse.National Coalition for the Homeless (June 2005). [Domestic Violence and Homelessness]. Retrieved 2006-05-11.
Prison discharge: Often the formerly incarcerated are socially isolated from friends and family and have few resources. Employment is often difficult for those with a criminal record. Untreated substance abuse and mental illness also may put them at high risk for homelessness onced discharged.Chicago Coalition for the Homeless. [Homelessness—Causes and Facts]. Retrieved 2006-05-10.
Drug or alcohol misuse: An estimated 38% of homeless suffer from a substance abuse problem. Debate exists about whether drug use is a cause or consequence of homelessness. However, regardless when it arises, an untreated addiction "makes moving beyond homelessness extremely difficult." Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio (2006-09-17). [Homelessness: The Causes and Facts]. Retrieved 2006-05-10.
Military veterans: i.e. Vietnam veteran
Reasons/Causes for Homelessness:
Income Inequality: Increased wealth and income inequality caused distortions in the housing market and pushes rent burdens higher and thereby decreasing general housing affordability.
High Cost of Housing: A by-product of the general distribution of wealth and income. Also impact by the reduction of household size witnessed in the last half of the 20th century.
Lack of Living Wage Jobs Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio. [Homelessness: The Causes and Facts]. Retrieved 2006-05-10.
Natural disaster, such as in the case of thousands of New Orleans, Louisiana residents losing their homes to Hurricane Katrina.
Personal Choice. Some make a choice not to have a permanent residence, including travelers and those who have personal spiritual/religious convictions (as yogis in India). Most Researchers feel this population is negligible. Many people who respond that they "prefer" the homeless lifestyle suffer from mental illness, trauma or have adapted to the lifestyle and the response reflects a socially-desirable response or justification rather than having no real desire for stable shelter.

Types of homelessness
There are many places where a homeless person might seek refuge.
Sleeping outdoors: Exposed or in a tent
Sleeping in a vehicle: such as a car or a motorhome. Some people who live nomadically in a motorhome or trailer are people of means who do so by choice and do not think of themselves as "homeless" in the sense it is usually used. For others a vehicle might serve as a temporary living refuge, for example those recently evicted from a home.
Sleeping in a public place: parks, bus or train stations, airports
Sleeping in a derelict structure: abandoned buildings, ruined cars, beached boats
Shelters
Boarding houses, or more specifically, flophouses which offer cheap temporary lodging and are often used by those trying to pull themselves out of homelessness or who are one step above homelessness.
Friends or family: This is distinguished from living with friends or family in that it is temporary.
Hobo jungles: Ad hoc campsites usually near rail yards.
Hotels: Gaining temporary shelter by staying in hotels is common among the houseless.

Services
Homeless shelters operated by government, churches, or charities work to provide temporary housing to the homeless. Types of shelters include overnight shelters, warming shelters, transitional shelters, and subsidized housingCoalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio. [Homelessness: The Causes and Facts]. Retrieved 2006-05-10.. While some shelters also provide food, others require people to turn to food banks and soup kitchens for nutrition.
Auxiliary services provided by some shelters include:
Health Clinics
Clothing and personal items
Employment assistance
Counseling and other social services: such as addiction control, trauma counseling, and depression treatment.
However, there are a number of complaints about the safety and quality of homeless shelters#redirect . Subsidized housing is a more expensive solution that some believe might end the cycle of homelessness.
An "outreach program" is a group that may include police officers, formerly homeless civilian outreach workers, or counselors. This team makes contact with homeless people and can provide assistance, or guide them to shelters for assistance. This can avoid unnecessary and costly arrests intended to displace the homeless. National Coalition for the Homeless. [A Dream Denied: The Criminalization of Homelessness in U.S. Cities]. Retrieved 2006-05-11.

The situation in the United States

Definition
The current federal definition of homelessness originally developed as part of the McKinney-Vento Act of 1987 reads as follows:
United States Code; Title I; General Section 103 § 11302; General Definition of a Homeless Individual: 1) an individual who lacks a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence; and (2) an individual who has a primary nighttime residence that is-- (A) a supervised publicly or privately operated shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations (including welfare hotels, congregate shelters, and transitional housing for the mentally ill); (B) an institution that provides a temporary residence for individuals intended to be institutionalized; or (C) a public or private place not designed for, or ordinarily used as, a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings.
This definition is not satisfactory to many providers, researchers and advocates, because it misses the population of "hidden homeless" who are currently doubling-up with family or friends. Some advocates also want "homelessness" to include those at serious risk of homelessness, but not yet experiencing it.
For an excellent history of homelessness in the United States, see Kusmer's Down and Out, On the Road. For an excellent analysis of causes of homelessness, see Jencks' The Homeless and O'Flaherty's Making Room: The Economics of Homelessness.

Demographics Of The United States

A homeless American.

The mobile and often hidden nature of homelessness makes this group difficult to accurately survey. The last rigorous attempt at estimating annual homeless prevalence in the United States was undertaken by the 1996 National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients (NSHAPC). Annual homeless prevalence was estimated at between 1.58 million (based on October/November four-week count) to 3.49 million (based on February seven day count) Burt, Aaron, Lee & Valente. 2001. Helping America's Homeless. Washington, DC: Urban Institute. Most, though not all, advocates use the higher estimate of over 3 million, especially since homelessness is thought to have risen since 1996.
Lifetime homeless prevalence measured in 1990 by Bruce Link and colleagues found 7.4% or 13.5 million people reported experiencing literal homelessness Link et al,. 1994. Lifetime and Five-Year Prevalence of Homelessness in the United States. American Journal of Public Health, Vol 84:12:1907-1912. . These estimates were tabulated from telephone interviews and thus most likely excluded all currently homeless individuals.
Many cities in the United States take an annual census of their homeless population, and use this data for decision making and also report it to the federal agency, HUD, as it is required for any city receiving federal monies for the homeless, especially for housing. The methods used for counting the number of homeless may vary from city to city. Kasindorf, Martin, "Search produces a wealth of data despite some holes in the canvass", USA TODAY, October 11, 2005,[link]
Demographics reported from the 1996 NSHAPC include:
Family Status
61% Single Men
15% Single Women
12.2% Women with children
4.6% Other Women
5.3% Other Men
2.3% Men with children
Racial Demographics of Head of Household
41% White, non-Hispanic
40% Black, non-Hispanic
11% Hispanic
8% Native American
1% Other
Length of Current Homeless Period
5% Less than one week
8% Greater than one week, less than one month
15% One to three months
11% Four to six months
15% Seven to twelve months
16% Thirteen to twenty four months
10% Twenty-five to sixty months
20% Five or more years
Lifetime Self-Reported Alcohol, Drug and Mental Health Problems
62% Alcohol
58% Drug
57% Mental Health
27% Mental Health and Alcohol or Drug (Dual Diagnosed)
Recent Homeless Estimates from Major U.S. Cities (single day estimate) Tepper, Martinez, Toche. 2005. Homeless Counts in US Major Cities and Counties. Weingart Institute. [link].:
Los Angeles - 91,000 (total area population 3,300,000)
New York - 48,155 (total area population 8,104,179)
Detroit - 14,827 (total area population 900,198)
Seattle - 8,000 (total population 560,000)
San Francisco - 6,248 (total area population 744,230)
Boston - 5,819 (total area population 569,165)
Washington DC - 5,518 (total area population 553,523)
Denver - 5,000 (total population 580,000)
Homeless Military Veterans With respect to military veterans, the National Coalition for Homeless Veterans estimates that 300,000 veterans experience homeless on any given day and over 500,000 at annually.National Coalition for Homeless Veterans [Background & Statistics]. Retrieved 2006-05-10. Veterans were found to be 1.4 times more likely than non-veterans to experience homelessness. Rosenheck et al., 1994. Homeless Veterans. In J. Baumohl (Ed.) Homelessness in America. Westport, CT: Onyx Press.. Blacks veterans, however, are less likely to experience homelessness compared to non-veteran Blacks. Recent veterans program such as the Homeless Grant and Per Diem and Homeless Employment Reintegration program has provided increasing resources to housing and reintegration homeless veterans.

Solutions to United States homelessness

Under a bridge. Paris, 2006

An historical statement on solutions to the poor and indigent is given in 1898 in a report: "The problem of the dependent poor, of which the functions and conduct of almshouses is but a part, gains in importance and in dignity the longer it is studied. Of the finer aspects of this general problem, as well as of the qualities required in those who would aid in its solution ...".Cole, William I, "Boston's Pauper Institutions", The New England Magazine, Volume 24, Issue 2, April 1898 [link]
A significant paradigm has occurred in homeless services over the past five years which has began to shift the emphasis from "managing the problem of homelessness" with emergency shelters, soup kitchens and health clinic to ending homelessness by housing individuals who are experiencing homeless. In 2001, the National Alliance to End Homelessness [www.endhomelessness.org] released"A Plan to End Homelessness" which encouraged communities to develop and implement a 10 year plan to end or reduce homelessness in their communities.
Key effective programs include:
Shelter Plus Care - a federal program that provides housing subsidies and are matched by local funds to provide long-term supportive services (typically case management). Experience demonstrated that many individuals who have been homeless for a significant time often lose their housing shortly after placement. The Shelter Plus Care program provides long-term supports including working with the landlord to keep the individual housed.
Housing First - a service paradigm that assumes that individuals who are homeless are "ready" to be housed immediately and with appropriate supports can retain their housing. The Pathways to Housing project in New York demonstrated a five-year housing retention rate of 88 percent among formerly homeless individuals with serious mental illness.
Assertive Outreach - a form of engagement and outreach that emphasizes building a bond of trust between the case worker and the individual. Engagement is highly individualized with the pace dictated by the individual in need. Case workers do not force rules, regulations or program services until they are requested. Typically used to engage homeless, mentally ill individuals.
Rent control and land reform - measures reducing rent to no more than 10 percent of income in Cuba have had a dramatic impact on keeping people housed.[link] Likewise the Cuban revolution's redistribution of land in the countryside helped end rampant homelessness.[link]
The federal government of the United States has an Interagency Council on Homelessness [link], which has had major cities develop 10-year plans to possibly eradicate homelessness. Interagency Council on Homelessness, [City Plans to End Homelessness].

American slang
American tramps and hobos of the late 19th century and early 20th century developed a rich and extensive slang. An example of some terms include: Levinson, D. 2004. Encyclopedia of Homelessness. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications
"Barnacle" = a fellow who sticks to one job a year or more "Buck" = a Catholic priest good for a dollar "Nickel note" = five-dollar bill "Stemming" = panhandling or mooching along the streets

The situation in Australia

Ben Hana, a homeless Māori in Wellington New Zealand

Homelessness should not be quantified as being without a house; rather, it defines a state in which a person lacks a secure base to establish secure routines of living. The Australian Bureau of Statistics breaks this down into 5 groups: [link]

"rough sleepers" - people who are living on the streets, with no formal shelter at all.
Emergency shelters
Temporarily residing with friends
Boarding houses
Trailer park residents
Of 100,000 homeless people in Australia on census night in 2001:Australian Federation of Homeless Organisations. [2001 Census Statistics]. Retrieved 2006-05-30.
58% were Male (58%)
42% were Female (42%)
36% were between the age of 12 - 24
10% were under the age of 12.
8.5% were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders
23% were staying in boarding houses
49% were staying with friends and relatives
14% were sleeping rough
14% were staying in services funded through the SAAP
Common causesAustralian Federation of Homeless Organisations. [2001 Census Statistics]. Retrieved 2006-05-30.
Domestic and family violence (22%)
Eviction/previous accommodation ended (11%)
Relationship/family breakdown (11%)
Usual accommodation unavailable (11%)
Financial Difficulty (10%)

The situation in the United Kingdom
All local authorities have a legal duty to provide 24-hour advice to homeless people, or those who are at risk of becoming homeless within 28 days (two months in Scotland). You must not be intentionally homeless, and people arriving from abroad (including British citizens who have lived abroad for some time) are excluded. If you do not have any connections with the local area, then you may be required to return to your home area.
Even if the local authority decides you are not homeless, it still must provide advice and assistance in finding accommodation, or provide a temporary place to stay while you find a permanent home. You will also be housed while enquiries are being made about your circumstances.
You will have a "priority need" for being provided with permanent housing if any of the following apply: you are pregnant, have dependent children, homeless because of an emergency such as a flood or a fire, aged 16 or 17 (except in Northern Ireland), elderly, have a physical or mental illness or disability, are at risk of exploitation or have been in care, are at risk of domestic violence or other threats of violence, homeless after leaving hospital prison or the armed forces.
The accommodation may not necessarily be provided by the council: often bed and breakfast hotels are used for temporary accommodation, and Housing Associations for permanent accommodation.
Practical advice regarding homelessness can be obtained through the websites listed below. The Citizens Advice Bureau and some other charities also offer advice in person, by telephone, or by email. The Shelter freephone helpline (open 8am to midnight every day of the year) provides advice about homelessness and other housing problems from the telephone number given on their website. In an emergency, contact your local council.

Income opportunities
Many non-profit organizations such as Goodwill Industries maintain a mission to "provide skill development and work opportunities to people with barriers to employment", though most of these organizations are not primarily geared toward homeless individuals. Many cities also have street newspapers or magazines: publications designed to provide employment opportunity to homeless people or others in need by their sale on the streets of their respective cities.
While some homeless have paying jobs, some must seek other methods to make money. Begging or panhandling is one option, but is becoming increasingly illegal in many cities. Despite the stereotype, not all homeless people panhandle, and not all panhandlers are homeless. Another option is busking: performing tricks, playing music, drawing on the sidewalk, or offering some other form of entertainment in exchange for donations. In cities where pharmaceutical companies still collect paid blood plasma, homeless people may generate income through frequent visits to these centers.
Homeless people have been known to purposely commit crimes in order to be sent to jail or prison for food and shelter. In police lingo, this is called "three hots and a cot." Similarly a homeless person may approach a hospital's emergency department and fake a mental illness in order to receive food and shelter.

Statistics for developed countries
The following statistics indicate the approximate average number of homeless people at any one time. Each country has a different approach to counting homeless people, and estimates of homelessness made by different organisations vary wildly, so comparisons should be made with caution.

European Union: 3,000,000 (UN-HABITAT 2004)

England: 459 rough sleepers, 98,750 households in temporary accommodation (Department for Communities and Local Government 2005)

United States: 842,000 (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration 1999)

United States: 3,500,000 including 0.9 to 1.4 million children (UN-HABITAT 2004)

Canada: 200,000 (CBC News December 1998)

Australia: 99,000 (ABS: [2001 Census])

Developing and undeveloped countries
The number of homeless people worldwide has grown steadily in recent years. In some Third World nations such as Brazil, India, Nigeria, and South Africa, homelessness is rampant, with millions of children living and working on the streets. Homelessness has become a problem in the cities of China, Thailand, Indonesia, and the Philippines despite their growing prosperity, mainly due to migrant workers who have trouble finding permanent homes and to rising income inequality between social classes.

See also

Homelessness in Canada
Homelessness in the United States
Street children
Homeless World Cup
Bumfights
Bumvertising
Tramp
Autism
Asperger Syndrome
High-functioning autism
Autistic spectrum
Flophouse
Hobo
Schnorrer
Refugee, economic migrants and internally displaced persons (IDP)

References

Bibliography

Baumohl, Jim [link], (editor), "Homelessness in America", Oryx Press, Phoenix, 1996.
Coalition for the Homeless (New York), "A History of Modern Homelessness in New York City". [link]
Culhane, Dennis [link], "Responding to Homelessness: Policies and Politics", 2001. [link]
DePastino, Todd, "Citizen Hobo: How a Century of Homelessness Shaped America", 2003. ISBN 0226143783
Institute for Governmental Studies, Berkeley, "Urban Homelessness & Public Policy Solutions: A One-Day Conference", January 22, 2001[link]
Kusmer, Kenneth L. [link], "Down and Out, On the Road: The Homeless in American History", Oxford University Press, 2003. ISBN 0195047788
Morton, Margaret, "The Tunnel: The Underground Homeless Of New York City", Yale University Press, 1995. ISBN 0300065590
Schutt, Russell K. [link], Garrett, Gerald R., "Responding to the Homeless: Policy and Practice", Topics in Social Psychiatry, 1992. ISBN 0306440768
Sommer, Heidi, "Homelessness in Urban America: a Review of the Literature", 2001. [link]
St. Mungo's organisation (UK), "A Brief History of Homelessness". [link]
Vladeck, Bruce, R., and the Committee on Health Care for Homeless People, Institute of Medicine, "Homelessness, Health, and Human needs", National Academies Press, 1988. [link]
Toth, Jennifer, "The Mole People: Life in the Tunnels Beneath New York City", 1993. ISBN 1556521901

External links
Historical
[Illustrated History of Long Term Care]
[History of the Bowery Rescue Mission, New York City]
International
[Homeless Forums] Online community of current and formerly homeless people.
[Homeless Discussion List]
[Directory of Homeless Support Services]
[St. Vincent de Paul]
[Homeless Statistics]
[Salvation Army]
[HOMELESS international]
Australia
[Homelessness in Australia]
[Rebeccas Community]
[Mission Australia]
Canada
[Homeless Nation: a website for and by the homeless]
Europe
[European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless]
United Kingdom
[Shelter] - a UK charity that provides a freephone helpline for homelessness and other housing problems
[Citizens Advice Bureau]
[Crisis]
[Directory of UK services]
[Homeless Link]
[Government links and statistics]
United States
[Interagency Council on Homeless - US Government]
[City of Boston Homeless census reports]
[Coalition for the Homeless (New York)]
[Bowery Rescue Mission, New York City]

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.