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A '''homeless''' person is someone without the income to pay for shelter, living catch-as-catch can, sometimes outside. The causes are many: incompetence, alcoholism, poor mental health, or economic recession. After 1960 many poor farms and mental hospitals that once housed the homeless have been shut down, and the weakness of family ties means their relatives are alienated and do not help. They get income by begging, stealing, and working at casual labor jobs for a day or two. Money is not safe for they suffer heavily from robbery.
A '''homeless''' person is someone without the income to pay for shelter, living catch-as-catch can, sometimes outside. The causes are many: incompetence, alcoholism, poor mental health, or economic recession. After 1960 many poor farms and mental hospitals that once housed the homeless have been shut down, and the weakness of family ties means their relatives are alienated and do not help. They get income by begging, stealing, and working at casual labor jobs for a day or two. Money is not safe for they suffer heavily from robbery.
==Numbers and definitions==
Refugees from wars or natural disasters are not usually included.
Refugees from wars or natural disasters are not usually included.
Social workers define three levels: (1) '''Literally homeless''' if the person lacked a fixed, regular, adequate nighttime abode and was living in a shelter designed to provide temporary living accommodations, or a place not designed as a residence, such as a car, bus station, or the street. 2) '''Institution''' if the person lives in a staffed transitional residence (e.g., a halfway house), a health care institution (e.g., nursing home or other hospital) or other institutional setting. (3) '''Doubled Up''' if the person was staying temporarily with family members or a friend for 30 days or less.
How many are homeless, and for how long, is a puzzling question. Estimates by liberal advocates range as high as three million, but actual counts are ten times lower. Interview data suggests that half the homeless have that status for about 6 weeks; very few people are long-term homeless, and they should be the target of welfare.<ref> See Link (1995)</ref>
How many are homeless, and for how long, is a puzzling question. Estimates by liberal advocates range as high as three million, but actual counts are ten times lower. Interview data suggests that half the homeless have that status for about 6 weeks; very few people are long-term homeless, and they should be the target of welfare.<ref> See Link (1995)</ref>
==Conditions==
About one third of homeless individuals have severe mental illness. Many homeless people rely extensively on expensive inpatient services and emergency rooms for their health care.
Because of poor sanitation and the tendency of the homeless to accost people for money, vagrancy in some places is considered a legal offense for which the victim can be arrested.
Because of poor sanitation and the tendency of the homeless to accost people for money, vagrancy in some places is considered a legal offense for which the victim can be arrested.
* Kusmer, Kenneth L. ''pp.Down and Out, on the Road: The Homeless in American History'' (2002). 368 pp. scholarly history
* Kusmer, Kenneth L. ''pp.Down and Out, on the Road: The Homeless in American History'' (2002). 368 pp. scholarly history
* Link, B. et al. "Lifetime and five-year prevalence of homelessness in the United States" ''American Journal of Orthopsychiatry'', 1995 [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1615395/pdf/amjph00463-0037.pdf online edition]
* Link, B. et al. "Lifetime and five-year prevalence of homelessness in the United States" ''American Journal of Orthopsychiatry'', 1995 [http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1615395/pdf/amjph00463-0037.pdf online edition]
* Rossi, Peter. ''Down and out in America: the origins of homelessness,'' (1989) [http://www.amazon.com/Down-Out-America-Origins-Homelessness/dp/0226728293/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1258525779&sr=1-1 excerpt and text search]
==References==
==References==