When you think about home, what comes to mind? Do you think of buildings, houses or a place to stay or do you think of other things like security, love, family, support, warmth and food?
A home is not just the possession of a physical space to sleep. Homelessness is the problem faced by many people who lack a place to live that is supportive, affordable, decent, and secure.
Although there is no universally accepted definition of homelessness, it can be defined narrowly to include only people without a roof over their heads or it can be defined more broadly, as is the case in many countries in the world. The broader definition would describe homeless persons as people who are roofless, people who are houseless, and people who live in insecure and inadequate housing.
The Housing Act 1988 provides a classification of homelessness under Section 2 of the legislation, for the purpose of assessment by a housing authority, as someone in a situation whereby:
“a) There is no accommodation available, which in the opinion of the authority, he, together with any other person who normally resides with him or who might reasonably expected to reside wit him, can reasonably occur or remain in occupation of, or
b) He is living in a hospital, county home, night shelter or other such institution and is so living because he has no accommodation of the kind referred to in paragraph (a) and he is, in the opinion of the Authority, unable to provide accommodation from his own resources.”
This definition of homelessness in the Housing Act represents the legal basis upon which local authorities respond to housing need. In practice, however, homelessness can consist of a range of situations including sleeping on the streets, sleeping in places not intended for night-time accommodation, a public or private homeless shelter, emergency lodging such as B&B or hotel rooms.
The European Federation of National Organisations working with the Homeless (FEANTSA) has developed a European Typology of Homelessness and housing exclusion (ETHOS) as a way to improve the understanding and measurement of homelessness in Europe, providing a common “language” for international discussion on homelessness. This classification was launched in 2005 and is used for different purposes – as a framework for debate, for data collection purposes, for policy purposes, monitoring purposes, and in the media.
It is important to note that ETHOS is not the method of measuring homeless that is used in all of the European Union states because homelessness is perceived and tackled differently in each country. ETHOS was developed through a review of existing definitions of homelessness and the realities of homelessness which service providers are faced with on a daily basis.
The ETHOS categories attempt to cover all living situations which amount to forms of homelessness across Europe and highlight that this approach confirms that homelessness is a process rather than a static phenomenon that can affect many vulnerable households at different points in their lives:
Rooflessness:
without a shelter of any kind, sleeping rough;
Houselessness:
with a place to sleep but temporarily in institutions or shelters;
Living in insecure housing:
threatened with severe exclusion due to insecure tenacious, eviction, domestic violence;
Living in inadequate housing:
in caravans on illegal campsites, in unfit housing, in extreme overcrowding.
10,000+ People are currently experiencing homelessness in Ireland.
The monthly net increase is 110 individuals.
Learn more about Homelessness
