THE INVISIBLE HOMELESS

When you lose your home you become invisible in two different ways. First, the great majority of homeless people are hidden, living temporarily with their parents or their children, in an alley or an abandoned building, a vehicle, or church basement. Visible “street people” comprise only one fifth of the urban homeless. Second, those of us with a home do not really see the homeless. To all extents and purposes they become invisible because we do our best to ignore them. Would you recognize your brother, your mother, or your uncle if they lived on the street?

There is no consistent definition of homelessness. In 2009 the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe Conference of European Statisticians (CES) identified homeless people under two broad groups: “primary homelessness,” persons living in the streets without a shelter; and “secondary homelessness,” persons with no place of usual residence who move frequently between various types of accommodations (including dwellings, shelters and institutions for the homeless or other living quarters). The CES acknowledged, however, that its approach did not provide a full definition of the 'homeless'. The United States Congress’s definition of homelessness, first applied in 1987, has been repeatedly modified (2002, 2009, and 2011), primarily to determine eligibility for federally funded housing allowances. The most common definition of homeless is the following: homeless people are persons who do not have lawful access to buildings in which to sleep. Such individuals are often referred to as “street people” (a term with an urban connotation that ignores the homeless who sleep in unoccupied buildings, inhabit mountains, lowland meadows, river banks, and beaches). Some homeless are in transit, but there is no accepted terminology to describe them. Indeed, most the terms utilized are derogatory, gypsy, transient, vagabond, hobo, tramp, and drifter. These words, similar to bum or panhandler, describe a person who we believe lacks a work ethic (usually without evidence).[a]

Regardless of differing definitional parameters, the numbers of homeless are staggering. Estimates worldwide vary between 100 million and 1 billion people.[b] Higher estimates usually include refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced persons because they experience the "marginalization, minority status, socio-economic disadvantage, poor physical health, collapse of social supports, and psychological distress” encountered by the domestic homeless. According to the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Agency’s 's July 2010 5th Homeless Assessment Report to Congress, in a single night in January 2010 there were 649,917 people experiencing homelessness in the United States. The same report states that 1.59 million people spent at least one night in an emergency shelter or transitional housing program in the United States during 2010. Statistics for other nations can be found at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness.

[a] Academics have further complicated the definitional debate. Some contend that homelessness is the "antithesis or absence of home" rather than rooflessness or the "lack of physical shelter." They argue that a “home” is more than a shelter, that it is a dynamic place that serves as a "base" for nurturing human relationships, the "free development of individuals," and their identity. Tipple, Graham, and Suzanne Speak. "Definitions of Homelessness in Developing Countries." Habitat International 29.2 (2005): 337-52; Springer, Sabine. "Homelessness: A Proposal for a Global Definition and Classification." Habitat International 24.2000 (2004): 475-84. Print. Others argue that homelessness is more a "lack of belonging," a loss of identity that leads to individuals or communities feeling "out of place" because they can no longer call a place of their own home. Moore, Jeanne. "Polarity or Integration? Towards a Fuller Understanding of Home and Homelessness." Journal of Architectural and Planning Research 24.2 (2007): 143-59.

[b] Capdevila, Gustavo, "Human Rights: More Than 100 Million Homeless Worldwide", IPS, Geneva. Tipple, Graham, and Suzanne Speak. "Definitions of Homelessness in Developing Countries." Habitat International 29.2 (2005): 337-52.