The causes of homelessness are disputed by both Right and Left, but few would argue that life on the streets is anything other than dangerous and debilitating. Unemployment, deinstitutionalisation, abuse in the home are among the stories the homeless tell. Voluntary organizations point to the failure of emergency shelters and food banks, the cut-backs in social programmes and the severe shortage of affordable housing. On the international scale, the changing global system has placed demands on the economies of Europe and North America which have impacted on resources, employment and even political will. This book is a comprehensive international study of homelessness. The author argues that the category of the homeless must itself be broadened, to encompass those chronically without shelter to those in immediate risk of dispossession, if homelessness is to be tackled effectively (before and after it happens) by public policy, voluntary organizations and the individuals themselves.