Homelessness
Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. The general category includes disparate situations, such as living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation such as family or friends, living in boarding houses with no security of tenure, and people who leave their domiciles because of civil conflict and are refugees within their country.
| Homelessness | |
|---|---|
| Other names | Houselessness, unhoused, unsheltered, out the front, destitute, deserted, vagrancy |
| A homeless man in Paris, France | |
| Specialty | Sociology |
| Symptoms | Lack of long-term shelter options which eventually culminates into further issues. |
| Complications | Mental illness, drug dependency, stress, anxiety, depression, disease or even death |
| Duration | Long-term |
| Causes | Drug dependency, domestic violence, lack of affordable housing or housing options, mental illness, sexual abuse, by choice (rare) |
| Prevention | Homeless shelters, affordable housing, drug rehabilitation services, outreach |
| Frequency | 100 million (2005 estimate) |
The legal status of homeless people varies from place to place. United States government homeless enumeration studies also include people who sleep in a public or private place, which is not designed for use as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings. Homelessness and poverty are interrelated. There is no methodological consensus on counting homeless people and identifying their needs; therefore, in most cities, only estimated homeless populations are known.
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In 2005, an estimated 100 million people worldwide were homeless, and as many as one billion people (one in 6.5 at the time) live as squatters, refugees, or in temporary shelters. Unhoused persons who travel are termed vagrants; of those, persons looking for work are hobos, those who don't are tramps. Bum is a general term for a stationary homeless person.