At any given moment, about 3 million American women, men, and children are homeless. And another 5 million Americans spend over 50% of their incomes on housing, meaning that one missed paycheck, one health crisis, or one unpaid utility bill can push them out the door into homelessness.

Homelessness is one of the major social problems and personal and family tragedies of the contemporary world. No community, city, or nation is immune and the lack of affordable housing and a decline in secure, well-paying jobs means that the problem will only get worse.

The Encyclopedia of Homelessness is the first systematic effort to organize and summarize what we know about this complex topic that impacts not only the homeless but all of society. The Encyclopedia focuses on the current situation in the United States with a comparative sampling of homelessness around the world.

Key Themes


• Causes

• Lifestyle Issues

• Health Issues and Services

• History

• Legal Issues and Advocacy

• Government Policies and Programs

• Organizations

• Research Approaches

• Service Systems and Settings

• Size and Characteristics of the Homeless Population

• Public Perceptions of Homelessness

• World Issues and Perspectives

Quick and Easy Regional Comparisons

Additional descriptive articles cover homelessness today in a sample of American cities and a sample of cities and nations of the world, allowing for quick and easy comparisons. The Encyclopedia contains entries on Australia, Brazil, Canada, Cuba, France, Guatemala, Japan, Nigeria, Russia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Zimbabwe, Tokyo, Calcutta, London and others around the world.

The Encyclopedia of Homelessness meets the needs of a broad audience, offering a rich history and the data, views, and perspectives of experts from different disciplines and perspectives, including

• Sociologists

• Anthropologists

• Economists

• Historians

• Social Policy Analysts and Planners

• Program Administrators

• Physicians

• Social Workers

• Lawyers who provide advocacy and services

• Journalists

• Students of history, social studies, and the social sciences in high school through graduate school

Appendices

In addition to the articles, the Encyclopedia provides five carefully researched and compiled appendices that make this the key starting point for the study of homelessness:

• Homelessness Autobiographical and Fictional

• Homelessness in Popular Culture: Film

• Directory of Street Newspapers

• Documentary History (Selection of primary source material)

• Master Bibliography

Key Features


• Organized alphabetically

• Entries written by an international team of leading authorities in the field

• Reader’s Guide groups entries by broad topic areas

• Appendices offer a wealth of additional information