Homelessness and disorder: the challenge of the antisocial and the societal response

We begin with a discussion of the psychosocial concepts of ‘homelessness’, ‘dangerousness’ and ‘disorder’ and then seek to redefi ne and relocate both from the internal world of the individual sufferer to the psycho-social ‘dis-memberment’ associated with what we have called the ‘unhoused mind’. We then explore the complex reciprocal relationship between the ‘ordered’ and the ‘dis-ordered’, the social and the anti-social, and consider some possible implications for individual workers, staff teams and organisations who are tasked with attempting to house or otherwise to accommodate such people. We conclude with a challenge for policy-makers to reframe the philosophical basis of their approach to the societal duty of care.