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There is an ongoing attempt to develop a globally acceptable definition of homelessness. Whether such a definition is broad and inclusive of squatters, and those living in particularly poor quality housing, or narrowly focused on street homelessness, it is likely to include a large population. Therefore, we are left with a need to develop criteria for identifying, allocating and prioritising appropriate support. Drawing on a study of homelessness in nine developing countries, this paper presents a new categorisation or typology of homelessness, based on choice and opportunity. It highlights the way in which homeless people, living in identical shelter situations, and for ostensibly similar reasons, might require different responses to support them out of homelessness. This paper does not seek to debate the definition of homelessness but to stimulate discussion on finding a way to identify and prioritise the needs of those included within any given definition.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence Newcastle University ePrints -eprint.ncl.ac.uk Roe MH, Sarlöv Herlin I, Speak SE. Identity, food and landscape character in the urban context.

The authors argue that research and policy debates on urban social marginalisation have largely neglected important restructuring trends in a range of essential private services, for example, food retailing, energy, telephony, and personal financial services. Using the case of the United Kingdom, they focus on two case studies carried out in the marginalised neighbourhoods of Benwell, in Newcastle upon Tyne, and Netherly Valley, in Liverpool. It is argued that parallel restructuring trends in these services are having compound exclusionary effects in places of concentrated social exclusion. A model of such compound exclusion effects is presented with supporting ethnographic evidence from residents of both case-study areas, to explore how the affects of marginalisation from financial services, food retailing, energy, and telephony interact in place. The authors finish the paper by exploring the implications of restructuring in private consumer services for urban social theory, for debates about urban marginalisation, and for policies which attempt to address such marginalisation.

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