ABSTRACT
This chapter attempts to survey some of the strategies that have been pursued to address the problem, and discuss the ways in which efforts to end homelessness relate to the larger issue of the availability of affordable housing. The availability of affordable housing remains a central issue with Housing First, as it ultimately does with any strategy to reduce homelessness. The homeless include all those who sleep in public places or in shelters, where they typically have no private space or assurance that they can regularly return. In seeking explanations for the relatively sudden transformation, analysts have come up with a variety of explanations, including changes in the housing market, in economic conditions and policies, and in social conditions and policies. Residents are provided with a wide range of services and must participate in a variety of activities, usually organized around a "program plan" that sets behavioral goals developed by a social caseworker with the family or individual.
