Kontakt 2008, 10(2):326-333 | DOI: 10.32725/kont.2008.050

Most typical causes of homelessness in seniorsHealth and Social Sciences

Martin Vereš

Trnavská univerzita v Trnave, Fakulta zdravotníctva a sociálnej práce

The scope of the contribution is focused on causes of homelessness. The homelessness is a multidimensional phenomenon and concerns all age categories including seniors. The phenomenon results not only in the absence of satisfying principal living needs but also in rather more painful consequences. The depreciation of the value of the human life, social separation, stigmatization, absence of privacy and safety are the features associated with social exclusion, which is in its extreme form represented by the homelessness.
The contribution demonstrates missing unambiguous delimitation or definition of causes, which are the triggering factors of the homelessness, their wide variability and mutual interconnection (multi-factorial nature) of factors of individual failure (compared with the common population) and structural factors (effects of the society - unemployment, admission to the education, availability of accommodation, health care).
The life and practice demonstrates enormous gaps and void spaces from the standpoint of the legislation in the form of absence of defining the term "homeless person" itself, unambiguousness and problems of delimitation of competences of particular subjects (sponsors - providers) of social services as well as from the standpoint of the coverage with social services and quantitative and qualitative points of view.
The currently existing capacity of social facilities aimed at helping homeless people is insufficient and not reflecting complex providing of needs associated with the target of reintegration of homeless people into common life. From this standpoint, the most important problems are as follows:
- the absence of supporting complex services associated with the principal degree of the reintegration process (daytime centres and field social work are lacking);
- providing of the reintegration process from the standpoint of next supporting services either in the form of accommodation (asylum homes, provisional homes, protected accommodation, rented flats), development or mastering of new professional skills (protected workshops, special labour programmes), availability and quality of services of social intervention, social consultation services;
- mutual cooperation between particular subjects participating in the solution of problems of homeless people (the state - regions - villages - non-governmental and charitable organizations);
- the absence of detailed mapping of problems of homeless people throughout Slovakia;
- mutual coordination of activities of the third sector implemented on the basis of the activity of the whole society.
The problems mentioned outline the spheres, the solution of which should be to a certain extent also connected with forthcoming legislative changes.

Keywords: homeless person; homelessness; causes of homelessness; causes of homelessness in seniors

Received: August 22, 2008; Accepted: October 14, 2008; Prepublished online: December 17, 2008; Published: December 17, 2009  Show citation