Parliamentary Research Branch

PRB 99-1E

Homelessness is not confined to the world’s poorest countries; in every country, including those considered to be the wealthiest on the planet, there are clearly many people who find themselves without shelter over a relatively long period.(1) Nor is this necessarily brought about by disasters of natural or human origin. Many studies have found that a wide variety of events can force people into the ranks of the homeless. Today, homelessness is a reality for many men, women and children of very different backgrounds. This is not new; at various periods throughout history some people have been unable to find appropriate housing, and for many reasons. Since the 1980s, however, the phenomenon has grown, and the composition of the homeless population has become increasingly varied.(2)

The most recent estimates of the number of homeless, published by international organizations, are alarming. On a world scale, it is estimated that more than one billion individuals are poorly housed and that 100 million of them are literally living on the street. According to a UNICEF report, every night there are 850,000 homeless people in Germany and 750,000 in the United States In Canada’s largest city, Toronto, emergency shelters for the homeless took in an average of 6,500 persons each night in 1997.(3)

The experts agree that, in addition to its constant growth, the homeless population has over the last 20 years or so undergone some substantial changes. In North America, for example, the homeless population includes a large and growing number of women,(4) youth,(5) families,(6) mentally disturbed people,(7) new immigrants,(8) and members of various ethnic communities; in Canada,(9) it includes many Aboriginal people.

In 1987, the United Nations declared the International Year of Shelter for the Homeless and homelessness became the focus of attention of a large number of researchers and field workers. In the years since then, this public recognition of the homeless population has been reflected in research, policy development and action, as witnessed in the proliferation of literature on the subject. Researchers at the University of Quebec in Montreal found that in an inventory of scientific articles on homelessness published between 1980 and 1993 in three computerized indexes (Sociofile, Psyclit and Medline), 91% of the 1,214 articles had been published since 1987.(10)

Generally speaking, these studies have helped to alter our conception of homelessness and our simplistic explanations of the problem, which was long associated almost exclusively with alcohol abuse.(11) It must now be acknowledged that the traditional image of the homeless as a relatively homogeneous group of alcoholic and vaguely crazy older men is outdated and that alcohol abuse is not the sole source of homelessness.

While existing knowledge of the subject is based on a substantial body of research and publications, experts have advanced as many explanations of homelessness as solutions for curbing its growth. There is no consensus as to the scope of the phenomenon, its causes and remedies, or even on the composition of the homeless population. Although the explanations multiply and become more complex as our knowledge of the subject deepens, there is much debate as to the relative weight that must be given to the various contributing factors, such as poverty, shortage of low-cost housing, drug abuse, and mental illness. This is no doubt why, notwithstanding the range of studies on homelessness, many continue to be ignorant about the overall phenomenon and what can be done to overcome it.(12)

This modular document does not claim to say everything about homelessness. Our primary objective is to present the major characteristics of the homeless population in Canada and to offer an overview of the major explanations for the situation.

A number of aspects of homelessness are briefly discussed in the following sections. First, homelessness is defined and the methodological and policy issues associated with adopting a particular definition are identified. Discussion then turns to the problems in enumerating the homeless population, the living conditions of the homeless, and, more particularly, the impact of these conditions on their health. Finally, the links between homelessness and prison and mental illness are examined, as well as proposals for legislative measures to try to stem the growth of the problem.

Because this document focuses on the situation in Canada, it presents Canadian statistics on the scope of the problem and its components.

The following pages show that since the 1980s homelessness has been increasingly linked to numerous concerns in the areas of criminality, public health and the economy. We will see that these concerns, because they tend to result in measures aimed strictly at the homeless, are leading to greater social control over this population. This increased control, which is often seen in the regulation of public space, promotes the criminalization of the homeless and consequently helps to reinforce the popular image of them as deviants. Some writers argue that, by criminalizing the living conditions of those who live in extreme poverty, we are to a large degree fostering their marginal status in society.