ABSTRACT

A common characterisation, and a too frequently held public perception of a homeless person, is that of a lone, unemployed, male vagrant with substance abuse or mental health problems. It is, however, inappropriate for the majority of homeless people in developing countries and presents an increasingly unrealistic picture of homeless people in the industrialised world. It reinforces the idea that the causes of homelessness lie in personal inadequacy – what Neale termed the ‘agency’ explanation. However, authors such as Neale (1997: 20) and Kennet and Marsh (1999) have clearly revealed the limitations of this explanation and the broader causes of increasing homelessness (see Chapter 1) and we attempt the same for developing countries in Chapter 3 and those that follow this.