Homelessness among older people: A comparative study in three countries of prevention and alleviation

This report describes the genesis, design and preliminary findings of a study of the causes of homelessness among newly-homeless older people in England, Australia and the USA. The report concentrates on the Australian findings. Since the late 1980s, there has been an increased level of attention given to the problems of older homeless people and a few specialist services have been developed to meet their needs. It has been shown that many have recently become homeless for the first time, raising questions about the reasons why older people become homeless and whether their homelessness could have been prevented. The aim s of the three-nation study were: (i) to increase understanding of the causes of homelessness among older people, by examining the biographies of recently homeless people and the policy and service context in which they became homeless; and (ii) to inform the debate about prevention practice, by identifying the sequence of events that precede homelessness, and the risk factors and ‘early warning’ indicators of serious difficulties.