10 Simon Communities of Ireland 2.2 Types of homelessness Homelessness can be visible and hidden. Visible homelessness is where people who are homeless are on the streets, sleeping rough and in shelters; while hidden homelessness includes people who are homeless living in temporary, insecure, low quality or overcrowded housing with relatives or friends, living in bed and breakfast accommodation and squatting. There is also an additional category of people at risk of homelessness. People who fall into this category may have housing but run the risk of becoming homeless because of economic difficulties, previous experience of homelessness and/or the threat of violence. Homelessness can indeed be quite a dynamic process with people moving in and out of it relatively quickly. O’Connor (in Downey (eds.), 2008, pp-58-63) identified three categories of homelessness: • Rough sleepers/long term users of emergency accommodation and shelters • Episodic bouts of homelessness • Temporary homelessness which is exited quickly and the person does not return to homelessness. 2.3 Factors that contribute to Homelessness Many factors can contribute to homelessness including poverty, poor educational achievement, poor quality jobs or unemployment, high cost of buying or renting a home, difficult relationships at home, leaving institutional care, inadequate community support services, ill-health (including physical and mental health), physical, sexual and mental abuse, disability, problematic drug and/or alcohol use, crime and leaving institutions e.g. prison. The link between homelessness and poverty and social exclusion is widely acknowledged, nationally and internationally. It is often when the systems and structures in society fail that people become homeless. For many individuals it can be a complex mix of a number of these factors and experiences which result in housing insecurity and ultimately homelessness, very often on several, separate occasions. Some of these factors can be linked to structural inequalities while others are related to the circumstances faced by a particular individual. • Structural causes including poverty, unemployment and housing issues. • Institutional causes including those living in foster, prison, mental health institutions, and the armed forces. • Relationship causes including abusive relationships and family breakdown (death or separation). • Personal causes including mental illness, learning difficulties and drug and/or alcohol use. In addition, research has recently begun to highlight the existence of an ‘important gender dimension to homelessness’9. 2.4 Nature and Extent of Homelessness in Ireland Counting the number of people who are homeless is difficult for a number of reasons and this is a challenge experienced in most jurisdictions. The recent CSO Special Report on Homelessness10 identified 3,808 people on census night as located in accommodation providing shelter for people who are homeless (including emergency, long term and 9 Mayock, P. & Sheridan, S. (2012) Women’s ‘Journeys’ to Homelessness: Key Findings from a Biographical Study of Homeless Women in Ireland. Women and Homelessness in Ireland, Research Paper 1. Dublin: School of Social Work and Social Policy and Children’s Research Centre, Trinity College Dublin. 10 CSO (2012) Special Report on Homelessness
Homelessness, Ageing and Dying
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