ANNEX A: HOMELESSNESS TASK FORCE DEFINITION OF HOMELESSNESS
The following definition of homelessness is suggested by the Homelessness Task Force in their final report (2002).
Persons defined in current legislation as homeless persons and persons threatened with homelessness - i.e. those:-
- without any accommodation in which they can live with their families.
- who can't gain access to their accommodation or would risk domestic violence by living there.
- whose accommodation is "unreasonable"; or is overcrowded and a danger to health.
- whose accommodation is a caravan or boat and they have nowhere to park it.
Those persons experiencing one or more of the following situations, even if these situations are not covered by the legislation:-
- Roofless: Those persons without shelter of any kind. This includes people who are sleeping rough, victims of fire and flood, and newly-arrived immigrants 2.
- Houseless: Those persons living in emergency and temporary accommodation provided for homeless people. Examples of such accommodation are night shelters, hostels and refuges.
- Households residing in accommodation, such as Bed & Breakfast premises, which is unsuitable as long-stay accommodation because they have no where else to stay.
- Those persons staying in institutions only because they have nowhere else to stay.
- Insecure accommodation: Those persons in accommodation that is insecure in reality rather than simply, or necessarily, held on an impermanent tenure. This group includes:-
- tenants or owner-occupiers likely to be evicted (whether lawfully or unlawfully).
- persons with no legal rights or permission to remain in accommodation, such as squatters or young people asked to leave the family home.
- persons with only a short-term permission to stay, such as those moving around friends' and relatives' houses with no stable base.
- Involuntary Sharing of Housing in Unreasonable Circumstances: Those persons who are involuntarily sharing accommodation with another household on a long-term basis in housing circumstances deemed to be unreasonable.
A very similar definition of homelessness was made available to respondents to the 2006 Scottish Social Attitudes survey if they queried what we meant when we asked if they, or anyone they knew, had ever been 'homeless'. However, as discussed in Chapter One, this question was asked at the end of the module. We did not attempt to define homelessness at the outset, since we were interested in respondents perceptions regardless of whether these were based on accurate understandings of the term 'homelessness'.