ABSTRACT
Homelessness has different meanings in different countries, and according to different legislatures. Here, however, it will refer to the situation of people in Western countries known either as ‘rough sleepers’ or ‘street homeless’ because they move from place to place, often alternating between sleeping in the open, on someone’s couch, in woods, farm outbuildings, under bridges or in short-term hostels (FEANTSA, 2012). The causes of rough sleeping are various but, historically, the main cause is poverty aggravated by specific economic, political and cultural conditions resulting in lack of access to safe and secure accommodation. Today, rough sleeper populations are comprised of: young single people who have been ejected from state care or their own families; people who have problems relating to mental and physical illness or have been victims of sexual or physical abuse; ex-inmates of penal institutions or ex-members of the armed forces; single adults made homeless as a result of a relationship breakdown; transient and migrant workers unable (as a result of either local welfare legislation or racist landlords) or unwilling (for economic reasons) to take on more permanent housing responsibilities; and illegal immigrants lacking access to basic citizen rights, and frequently exploited by illegal labour entrepreneurs or exploited for criminal purposes by professional or organised criminals, and especially by those engaged in people trafficking, prostitution or illegal drug importation and distribution.
