ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the important issues, dispel commonly held myths, and outline the root causes of homelessness. The homeless are typically defined as those who have no permanent home and who must resort to streets, shelters, or other makeshift quarters. The number of homeless is impossible to determine accurately since they may be living with relatives or friends or hidden beneath bridges, in alleys, in abandoned buildings, in shelters and are therefore difficult to find and count. A recurrent belief among politicians, journalists, social scientists, and the public is that homelessness is a consequence of personal disabilities. That is, homeless persons tend to suffer from chronic alcoholism or from chronic physical or mental disorders and the disabilities explain their homelessness. Many observers of homelessness have concentrated on the differences between the "old" homeless and the "new" homeless.
