A s the phenomenon of homelessness has dragged on in North
America, a frequently posed question is why are there
homeless people? In answering this question, there are, broadly
speaking, two schools of thought. One school may be called the
"personal pathology" school, which concentrates on immediate
reasons why people become homeless. The focus is on problems
such as alcohol or drug addiction, mental illness, and family vio-
lence, all of which make the person especially vulnerable to
homelessness. The second school of thought may be called the
"structural" school, which concentrates on external broad social
conditions affecting a person's ability to maintain stable hous-
ing. These conditions include the lack of availability of afford-
able housing, low levels of wages and financial assistance, and
patterns of discrimination based on race and ethnicity.

We believe that the most insightful homelessness research
is holistic, in that it takes a broad, ecological perspective, view-
ing an individual's homelessness within larger processes in soci-
ety. In this chapter, social and cultural conditions are discussed,
and linked to the individual's experience of homelessness.

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