Homelessness and the European Union’s Initiatives to End It

Abstract

Homelessness is a serious social problem in the countries of the European Union, which is currently exacerbated by the refugee crisis and migration phenomenon. The Member States of the European Union are taking various measures to reduce this problem. However, tackling homelessness requires appropriate actions also at EU level, including monitoring its European dimension. Still, EU Member States use different definitions of homelessness, methods of collecting and presenting data on homelessness, and implement different policies to address it. The purpose of this article is to attempt to analyse the initiatives undertaken at EU level concerning the fight against homelessness, the housing-led policy recommended in the European Union, and the typology of homeless people developed by the European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless. Legal-dogmatic and empirical methods were used in the article.