ABSTRACT
The citations above succinctly capture several important points about homelessness worldwide. First, housing is now universally recognized as a human right and pervasive homelessness demonstrates clearly that efforts to implement this right must be strengthened and accelerated. The International Year of Shelter for the Homeless (IYSH) in 1987 helped to direct public attention to the extent and severity of homelessness and spurred a plethora of reports,6 but subsequent policies have not diminished the problem. Second, although data are sparse and scattered, it is clear that the scale of urban homelessness in the developing countries is enormous. The situation in Mumbai, with
more than 1 million pavement-dwellers, is not unusual. Lack of adequate shelter is common. In comparison, problems of homelessness in the more developed economies are neither as widespread nor as severe.
