Homelessness

Homelessness ~ Connectedness

Some definitions of homelessness which take into account the need for connectedness:

Homelessness carries implications of belonging nowhere rather than simply having nowhere to sleep.

Homelessness is a condition of detachment from society characterised by the absence or attenuation of the affiliative bonds that link settled persons to a network of interconnected social structures (Caplow, Bahr and Sternberg, 1968: 494).

Homelessness - an inadequate experience of connectedness with family and or community (Dominic Mapstone, Director - Rebeccas Community).

Houselessness - an inadequate experience of shelter, ranging from a complete lack of shelter at one end of the continuum to severely inadequate housing conditions at the other.

Hospital and Community Psychiatry, J. Grunberg and P. F. Eagle included the concept of disaffiliation in their definition. They wrote that loss of family and community bonds is central to homelessness.

Homelessness is not a purely housing based concept but has significant emotional, social and psychological dimensions (Somerville, 1992)

Many support services continue to view homelessness from a housing perspective and overlook it's true basis as a lack of connectedness. This is particularly the case for services working from a medical perspective.

More definions can be found in the glossary: define homeless