Homelessness Prejudices
The image of homelessness and the homeless in the collective imagination may be completely different from the way these people are viewed by professionals working in this field. People with homelessness experience, the general public, researchers, social workers, journalists, to name but a few, may have totally different views about the meaning of homelessness and perception of this problem. Their way of talking about homelessness can also differ greatly.
During their presentation, "We can judge them by their appearances ...", given at the 2012 European Research Conference on Homelessness, Joanne Bretherton, Caroline Hunter and Sarah Johnsen demonstrated how Perceptions and perceptions of vulnerability can influence professional decisions about helping people who are homeless, ignoring medical evidence and real life circumstances. Our opinions, even our prejudices, can define our response to homelessness, and this applies to people working in the field as well as to non-professionals.
The European Federation of National Organisations working with the Homeless (FEANTSA) considers it essential to define homelessness with a view to making progress towards ending it. It has developed the ETHOS typology of homelessness and homelessness in this respect. The ETHOS typology begins with the conceptual understanding that there are three domains which constitute a “ home ”, the absence of which can be taken to delineate homelessness. Having a home can be understood as : having an adequate dwelling (or space) over which a person and his/her family can exer- cise exclusive possession (physical domain) ; being able to maintain privacy and enjoy relations (social domain) and having a legal title to occupation (legal domain). This leads to the 4 main concepts of Rooflessness, Houselessness, Insecure Housing and Inadequate Housing all of which can be taken to indicate the absence of a home. ETHOS therefore classifies people who are home- less according to their living or “ home ” situation. These conceptual categories are divided into 13 operational categories that can be used for different policy purposes such as mapping of the problem of homelessness, developing, monitoring and evaluating policies.
An adequate definition can help to break down prejudices about the homeless. But what are these prejudices? Why do they exist? The answers come with these types of initiatives taken.
-Zinedine
During their presentation, "We can judge them by their appearances ...", given at the 2012 European Research Conference on Homelessness, Joanne Bretherton, Caroline Hunter and Sarah Johnsen demonstrated how Perceptions and perceptions of vulnerability can influence professional decisions about helping people who are homeless, ignoring medical evidence and real life circumstances. Our opinions, even our prejudices, can define our response to homelessness, and this applies to people working in the field as well as to non-professionals.
The European Federation of National Organisations working with the Homeless (FEANTSA) considers it essential to define homelessness with a view to making progress towards ending it. It has developed the ETHOS typology of homelessness and homelessness in this respect. The ETHOS typology begins with the conceptual understanding that there are three domains which constitute a “ home ”, the absence of which can be taken to delineate homelessness. Having a home can be understood as : having an adequate dwelling (or space) over which a person and his/her family can exer- cise exclusive possession (physical domain) ; being able to maintain privacy and enjoy relations (social domain) and having a legal title to occupation (legal domain). This leads to the 4 main concepts of Rooflessness, Houselessness, Insecure Housing and Inadequate Housing all of which can be taken to indicate the absence of a home. ETHOS therefore classifies people who are home- less according to their living or “ home ” situation. These conceptual categories are divided into 13 operational categories that can be used for different policy purposes such as mapping of the problem of homelessness, developing, monitoring and evaluating policies.
An adequate definition can help to break down prejudices about the homeless. But what are these prejudices? Why do they exist? The answers come with these types of initiatives taken.
-Zinedine
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