Description: Poverty, unemployment, deinstitutionalization, and economic dislocation are among the leading causes of homelessness. Voluntary organizations point to the failure of emergency shelters and food banks, the reductions in social programs, and the severe shortage of affordable housing. On the international scale, the changing global system has placed new demands on the economies of Europe and North America which have had a negative effect on resource allocation, employment, and even political will. This book is the first comprehensive international study of homelessness. It points the way to new, constructive approaches to this critical social issue. The author demonstrates that the definition of "homeless" must itself be broadened, to encompass those at immediate risk of dispossession as well as those chronically without shelter, if homelessness is to be effectively confronted (before and after it happens) by public policy, voluntary organizations, and individuals themselves.

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