The problem of homelessness is deeply emblematic of the sort of society Britain has become. What other social phenomena could better epitomize the end of the modernist project than our seeming inability to adequately respond to the most basic needs - shelter, warmth, food - of substantial numbers of our "citizens"? This text offers a dispassionate analysis of the problem of homelessness and the policy responses it has so far invoked. Derived from work carried out at the Centre for Housing Policy at the University of York during the 1990s, the text reviews theoretical and legal conceptualizations of the problem, considers the impact of the experience of homelessness and offers evaluations of various policy responses. Chapters include considerations of: the social distribution of homelessness; health and homelessness; the impact of mortgage repossession; social theory and the law; homelessness amongst ex-servicemen and ex-prisoners; evaluation of access schemes, rehousing strategies, hostels; and the use of the private rented sector to house homeless households.

The problem of homelessness is deeply emblematic of the sort of society Britain has become. What other social phenomena could better epitomize the end of the modernist project than our seeming inability to adequately respond to the most basic needs - shelter, warmth, food - of substantial numbers of our "citizens"? This text offers a dispassionate analysis of the problem of homelessness and the policy responses it has so far invoked. Derived from work carried out at the Centre for Housing Policy at the University of York during the 1990s, the text reviews theoretical and legal conceptualizations of the problem, considers the impact of the experience of homelessness and offers evaluations of various policy responses. Chapters include considerations of: the social distribution of homelessness; health and homelessness; the impact of mortgage repossession; social theory and the law; homelessness amongst ex-servicemen and ex-prisoners; evaluation of access schemes, rehousing strategies, hostels; and the use of the private rented sector to house homeless households.