ABSTRACT
The causes of homelessness need to be assessed on two levels–the immediate factor which sparks off the experience of homelessness, and the underlying range of family problems in which the origins of homelessness are to be found. The assessment of the underlying causes of homelessness is inevitably less precise than that for the immediate reasons for entry into a temporary accommodation hostel. The reasons for entering temporary accommodation, or the situation as it was presented to the local authority by the family making application to go into the hostel, contained a very substantial emphasis on housing issues. Unemployment as the sole and immediate cause of homelessness only occurred in limited circumstances–generally where a man was working for an employer who had provided him with tied housing, such as the National Coal Board or a farmer.
