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Homelessness is a global challenge.

The United Nations Human Settlements Program estimates that 1.1 billion people live in inadequate housing, and the best data available suggest that more than 100 million people have no housing at all.

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An Overview of Global Homelessness and Strategies for Systemic Change
Katherine Johnson
Mark McGreevy
Molly Seeley
Homelessness is a problem that can be solved with the right mix of program interventions, well-coordinated local systems, and effective policy. We know homelessness can be ended because there are cities that have ended it. Others have seen meaningful reductions in homelessness among certain targeted populations, such as chronically homeless individuals or veterans. In broad terms, the processes and interventions required to...
Homelessness: A Global Perspective; Report of the International Conference on Homelessness
Department for International Development
This report presents the proceedings of the international conference on Homelessness: A Global Perspective, held in New Delhi, 9th-13th January 2006. The report is in 2 parts. Part one discusses the background to the conference, its aims and the experiences of those who took part. Part 2 presents the majority of the 31 formal papers presented at the conference.
The Nature and Extent of Homelessness in Developing Contexts
Suzanne Speak
The number of homeless people worldwide is estimated to be between 100 million and one billion, depending on how we count them and the definition used. However, little is known about the causes of homelessness or the characteristics of homeless people in developing countries. A study by CARDO* in the School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, at the University if Newcastle upon Tyne, set out to explore the nature and...
Gender Identity and Extreme Poverty
Marcelo Ernesto Ferreyra
This book was conceived in response to the 2008 celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Despite this Declaration, which was adopted in 1948, sexual minorities around the world are routinely subjected to flagrant human rights violations (particularly by governments) that range from subtle discrimination to imprisonment, torture, the death penalty and murder. There are still...
The Nature and Extent of Homelessness in Developing Contexts
Graham Tipple
Suzanne Speak
The number of homeless people worldwide is estimated to be between 100 million and one billion, depending on how we count them and the definition used. However, little is known about the causes of homelessness or the characteristics of homeless people in developing countries. Most developing countries have poor or non-existent data relating to homelessness. There is an urgent need for governments to undertake adequate...
Definitions of Homelessness in Developing Contexts
Graham Tipple
Suzanne Speak
This paper describes work in progress by the authors to explore the extent and characteristics of homelessness in developing countries including an assessment of the viability of and need for a globally acceptable definition of homelessness. Its main aim is to provide an empirical context from developing countries against which the current theoretical concepts of home, and existing typologies on homelessness, may be examined...
A Global Framework for Understanding and Measuring Homelessness
Volker Busch-Geertsemaa
Dennis Culhane
Suzanne Fitzpatrick
There is no globally agreed definition of homelessness. Even within countries, the topic can be contentious. At the same time, we know we can’t measure and solve a problem we can’t define, so in 2015 IGH made developing shared language on homelessness a top priority. The result of this project is the IGH Framework, the product of collaboration from researchers, policy experts and on-the-ground leaders in six continents. While...
Reproductive health strategy to accelerate progress towards the attainment of international development goals and targets
World Health Organization (WHO)
Reproductive and sexual health is fundamental to individuals, couples and families, and the social and economic development of communities and nations. Concerned about the slow progress made in improving reproductive and sexual health over the past decade, and knowing that the international development goals would not be achieved without renewed commitment by the international community, the Fifty-fifth World Health Assembly...
Causes of Child and Youth Homelessness in Developed and Developing Countries: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis
Lonnie Embleton
Hana Lee
Jayleen Gunn
There are vast numbers of children and youth in the world who find themselves connected to the streets. Owing to the difficulties of counting and defining this very fluid population, no accurate estimates exist on the numbers of children and youth spending a portion or majority of their time on the streets; however, they are estimated to be in the tens to hundreds of millions. A variety of definitions have been put forth to...
Forced Evictions and Human Rights
International human rights law establishes norms and principles touching on virtually all facets of life. This is reflected in the consistent reaffirmation by the international community of the indivisibility and interdependence of all human rights, whether civil, cultural, economic, political or social. The indispensable equality of all human rights, now firmly entrenched in the provisions of international human rights...