Single homelessness as social exclusion: The unique and the extreme

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Abstract

Recent research into single homelessness and rough sleeping has begun to consider the issue using the concepts and the language of social exclusion. This paper considers the new literature and what it may mean in terms of changing our understanding of single homelessness and rough sleeping (called street homelessness in the United Stales). The paper begins by reviewing the concept of social exclusion and the recent literature on single homelessness and drawing associations between the analysis of social exclusion and the emerging academic work on the nature of single homelessness and rough sleeping. Drawing an this literature, it is argued that single homelessness needs to be reconceptualized and viewed as one of the products generated by the process of social exclusion. The paper concludes with the argument that single homelessness and rough sleeping are a form of social exclusion, characterized chiefly by the inability of a section of the socially excluded population to gel access to welfare services and serial housing, and that "homelessness" does not actually exist as a discrete social problem with unique characteristics and causes.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)46-59
Number of pages14
JournalSocial Policy & Administration
Volume32
Issue number1
Publication statusPublished - Mar 1998

Keywords

  • homelessness
  • social exclusion
  • theory
  • single homeless

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