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A personal narrative is presented which explores the author's experience with homelessness at age seventeen and how having a car provided a measure of safety and security. The author also discusses the typical circumstances that lead to homelessness and the criminalization of homelessness through laws prohibiting sleeping or storing belongings in public places.

Institutional statistics and academic research in Israel tend to present a partial description of the gender characteristics of the problem of Israeli homelessness. They often focus on the manifest aspect of the phenomenon, which essentially characterizes homelessness as men living on the streets. By doing so, they ignore its hidden aspect, especially its feminine characteristics. Based on 10 interviews that I conducted with Jewish and Arab women, who are home-deprived single mothers, the article reveals how these women, who have some kind of roof over their heads, have living arrangements that are characterized by a lack of stability and security. The women engage in a number of strategies, which include, for example: living with family and friends, constantly moving from one apartment to another, refusing to evacuate, and squatting in empty apartments, which make them invisible homeless, hidden from the public eye. The analysis of the women's coping strategies reveals that the women are not passive objects of the hegemonic discourse, but rather active members of society. The women engage in resistance and redefine the boundaries of the social problem of homelessness, in order to meet their parental obligations and ensure that their children will have a roof over their heads. Keywords: hidden homelessness; women; feminism; social problem, resistance, Israel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports that in the case "Martin v. City of Boise," the Ninth Circuit engaged in that familiar back-and-forth, this time sparring over the constitutionality of two city ordinances that banned sleeping and camping on public property. It reports Ninth Circuit refuses to reconsider invalidation of ordinances completely banning sleeping and camping in public or criminalization of homelessness.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) recent report on the relationship between culture and urban sustainability proposes that museums contribute to the larger civic project by “representing multicultural societies and giving minorities space within national narratives.”1 If, as the report suggests, cities rely on their cultural institutions such as museums to enable integration through narrative, then it is vital to consider how, and how well, this is actually being achieved. The American urban homeless of the 1930s present a viable case study as to the integration—or lack thereof—of one particular historical minority. Examining the interpretation of this select group allows us to then assess the forces at play in museum-based cultural and civic inclusion to draw some conclusions about the realities of this goal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through the lens of stereotyping and stigma, this article examines discrimination and prejudice toward homeless families from the perspective of social service providers. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with practitioners. A critical social work practice perspective is used to provide a framework for understanding how social worker knowledge about discrimination and prejudice informs the ways in which the workers engage with clients, build capacities, and advocate for clients in an anti-oppressive manner. The themes found in this study include: a) providers’ awareness of bias, stereotyping, prejudice, and discrimination; b) providers’ use of a range of strategies to work with people experiencing homelessness; c) providers’ ideas about strategies that organizations can implement for service provision; and) providers’ belief that additional advocacy and policy are needed in relationship to people experiencing homelessness. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this article, we will rely on the critical analysis of Dianne Pothier regarding discrimination and human dignity in order to establish propositions that we name the 'Pothier perspective.' Our aim is to demonstrate the applicability of the Pothier perspective to the issues relating to street-involved people's dignity. We apply her analysis to a particular context - the implementation and the effects of the Obstructive Solicitation Regulation in Winnipeg. We find that Pothier's perspective helps us probe the complex ways in which formal decision-making bodies create and reinforce barriers to improving the life conditions of street-involved people. Among other things, the Pothier analysis deepens our understanding of power dynamics and shifting variations within the context of homelessness. However, Pothier also focuses on the manner in which people conceive of creative ways to develop strategies to maintain their dignity despite discriminatory experiences. Her perspective brings a different discussion about the homelessness in Winnipeg, which may facilitate innovative strategies for anti-poverty groups more broadly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses how city of St. Louis, Missouri created a new version of the U.S. Department of Housing & Urban Development's (HUD) Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program (HPRP) named "Hope Is Moving In." It mentions that the Hope Is Moving In program is aimed to deliver affordable houses to homeless in the city with the help of funds provided by the HUD under HPRP program.

This mixed-methods study identified correlates of unemployment among homeless young adults in five cities. Two hundred thirty-eight homeless young people from Los Angeles (n = 50), Austin (n = 50), Denver (n = 50), New Orleans (n = 50), and St. Louis (n = 38) were recruited using comparable sampling strategies. Multivariate logistic regression results indicate that homeless young adults were more likely to be unemployed if they had been on the streets longer, currently lived on the streets, earned an income from panhandling, and were addicted to drugs. Quantitative findings are expanded on with focus-group data from a group of homeless young people in Los Angeles regarding their challenges in locating and maintaining employment. Employment-related barriers for this population include prior homelessness, geographic transience, previous felonies, mental illness, and addiction. Findings suggest that homeless young adults’ employment status and use of specific income-generating activities may be influenced by demographic, environmental, and geographic contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Objective. We examined the associations among perceived discrimination, racial/ethnic identification, and emotional distress in newly homeless adolescents. Methods. We assessed a sample of newly homeless adolescents (n=254) in Los Angeles, California, with measures of perceived discrimination and racial/ ethnic identification. We assessed emotional distress using the Brief Symptom Inventory and used multivariate linear regression modeling to gauge the impact of discrimination and racial identity on emotional distress. Results. Controlling for race and immigration status, gender, and age, young people with a greater sense of ethnic identification experienced less emotional distress. Young people with a history of racial/ethnic discrimination experienced more emotional distress. Conclusion. Intervention programs that contextualize discrimination and enhance racial/ethnic identification and pride among homeless young people are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Workable and effective policies addressing homelessness need to be based on a clear definition of homelessness. This overview of recent policies in the European Union, the U.S., and Australia shows that, even at the very basic level of being able to define and enumerate the homeless, policy approaches are extremely variable. Research indicates the growing significance of the “new homeless,” consisting of families, women, and children. Homelessness also needs to be seen as something dynamic that may involve movement into and out of housing and other supports over time. Older policies that address only limited kinds of homelessness and which do not recognize the dynamics involved are likely to be less effective. “Good practice” policy incorporates these changing understandings of homelessness by addressing the housing, psychological and social needs of the homeless, as well as integrating across programs and increasing independence through capacity building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article draws on other papers in the special issue and additional literature to offer a multi-level framework for understanding the causes of homelessness in the developed world and efforts to reduce or end it. Social policies that reduce inequality and provide income and other supports to those at the bottom of the income distribution are associated with lower levels of homelessness across nations. The allocation of subsidies, patterns of social exclusion, and individual levels of economic, social, and human capital interact to influence who becomes homeless. Interventions to reduce homelessness at one level (e.g., social policy) can counteract vulnerabilities at a different level (e.g., individual risk factors). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the knowledge of how shared definitions affect interagency collaboration and client access to services, the present study aims to examine how the McKinney-Vento Act (Pub. L. 100-77, July 22, 1987, 101 Stat. 482, 42 U.S.C. § 11301 et seq.) has impacted agency definitions of homelessness. A random sample of 104 social service agencies from one country in the northwest were queried about the Act's influence on their definition of homelessness and its impact upon services provided. Significant findings include the broad range of definitions used among agencies and the high percentage of responses that support the need for a universal definition. Adoption of a universal definition is recommended to best serve the wide diversity of the needs of people who are homeless. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The author reflects on his experience of being a homeless person, the Myth of Choice, and his reaction to the Jones v. City of Los Angeles case. The author recalls being told not to read the newspaper in the morning in the homeless shelter, as well as not to initiate talk with other shelter residents about politics or local homeless policy. He notes the Myth of Choice which asserts that homeless people are homeless because they made bad choices. He argues that the Myth of Choice is a response to society's cognitive dissonance which is the disconnect between the success people believe is possible and the existence of homelessness. He notes that the Jones decision highlights how poorly made policy responses are created by the Myth of Choice.

The article discusses the case Jones v. City of Los Angeles. In this case, a panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals struck down a Los Angeles ordinance that prohibited sleeping, sitting or lying on the street at any time of the day, as a violation of the Eighth Amendment's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment. The panel ruled that the ordinance unconstitutionally criminalized the conduct that was an unavoidable outgrowth of the status of homelessness. It is argued that the Jones decision is vulnerable because of the grounds on which the decision was reached. Although the decision was legally vulnerable, it was necessary and it is argued by the author that it was the only morally acceptable choice.

The article discusses role of domain, audience and constituency in justifying human rights. The article examines the proposition of human rights instruments to focus on rather oppressed and impoverished humanity, especially victims of disenfranchisement and systematic discrimination, those threatened with genocide, and the illiterate, permanently hungry, homeless, and most at risk of disease.

The article focuses on the cruel criminalization of homeless people in the U.S. The challenges to anti-homelessness laws under the Status Crimes Doctrine stressed on whether the Eight Amendment prohibition on criminalizing status extends to illegalize involuntary acts that are derivative of status, whether given the shortage of shelter and other services for the homeless. There are cities that shun laws that focused on criminalizing activities that are linked with homelessness though others used laws that appeared neutral towards the homeless but dealt on homeless specific behavior.

Using a sample of homeless street youth, this research examines how specific forms of strain — emotional abuse, physical abuse, sexual abuse, homelessness and being a victim of robbery, violence or theft, relative deprivation, monetary dissatisfaction and unemployment — lead to crime and drug use. It also explores how strain is conditioned by deviant peers, deviant attitudes, external attributions, self-esteem and self-efficacy. The results reveal that all ten types of strain examined can lead to criminal behavior either as main effects or when interacting with conditioning variables. The results are discussed in light of general strain theory and suggestions are offered for future research on this topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Homelessness remains a neglected component of rural studies in Britain and Europe. Research has tended to skirt around the subject, focusing either on groups in need located within rural housing markets or on those people experiencing rural poverty living within conventional properties. In this paper we want to connect homelessness with rurality by drawing on key findings from recently completed research on rural homelessness in England. We want to make connections between homelessness and rurality in two main ways. Firstly, given the limited knowledge base on rural homelessness, we set out the overall extent and profile of homelessness in rural England based on an analysis of unpublished official statistics. We also highlight how homelessness in rural England is bound up with a great deal of spatial unevenness and suggest that it is through localized investigation that important connections between homelessness and rurality can be best understood. In the second part of the paper, we draw on findings from local research conducted in two rural districts in Gloucestershire to provide a range of evidence that points to the significance of the local spaces of rural homelessness. In particular, this work demonstrates the ways in which local structures of housing provision and socio-cultural and political processes in these districts impact on the nature and experiences of rural homelessness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses homelessness in Germany. The author describes the life conditions and causes of the problem. He defines homelessness, cites anecdotes from the homeless, and quantifies the problem. Initiatives addressing the problem by various provincial governments and help organizations are sketched, and relevant German statutes are cited. The social marginalizing of the homeless is also discussed.

In recent studies of elderly public housing residents, Lawton and his associates reported that older tenants who were segregated from young families experienced greater satisfaction and less fear of crime than did those who were not housed apart (Lawton & Yaffe, 1980; Teaff, Lawton, Nahemow, & Carlson, 1978). They suggested that segregation was related to positive outcomes because the elderly do not have the capacities to cope with younger public housing residents' activities. This study examined the possibility that Lawton and his associates did not provide an unambiguous test of segregation because their measure failed to distinguish between the elderly's relative group size in the housing site and their segregation from young families. As expected based on the frequent finding in intergroup perception that group members are rated as more trustworthy than are nongroup members, older tenants felt safer and more satisfied when a relatively high number of elderly resided in the public housing site. When the effects of relative group size were controlled, however, segregation was related to lower satisfaction, higher fear, and more extreme ratings of the severity of the local crime problem. This link between segregation and negative outcomes suggests that elderly public housing tenants do not constitute an important exception within theories of prejudice and discrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses measures set forth by Social Minister Horst Schmidt in order to improve the situation of the homeless in West Germany. In addition, the role of citizen participation in improving conditions for the homeless are discussed. Sociological issues such as prejudices against the homeless are addressed as well.

The article comments on homeless people, in light of the advent of winter in the northern hemisphere. Numbers of those sleeping roofless appear to be down from a century ago, but such figures omit the hidden homeless who fit the official definition of lacking any entitlement to housing. Overall estimates for Europe as a whole and the U.S. are each in excess of three million people. The serious health consequences of this deterioration of society are highlighted in a survey of homeless people in the United Kingdom, released by London-based charity St. Mungo's. Diseases are usually multiple, infections are frequent, and mental health problems are up. Life expectancy averages just 42 years. There is a tradition in the UK of treating the homeless as criminals. yet this vulnerable group are more likely to be victims of crime.

Discusses homelessness and mortality in Moscow, Russia. Instances of hypothermia; Amputation in the homeless population; Reasons for homelessness include prison sentence, loss of home or job, family problems and personal choice; Lack of support for prisoners following release from the penitentiary system; Statement made by the Moscow government that homeless people are not a priority; Campaign by Médicins Sans Frontiéres to reduce the stigma and increase homeless people's access to medical and social assistance.