RESEARCH DIGEST NO.2: COUNTING EUROPEAN HOMELESSNESS:EPOCH PRACTICE

Not all EU Member States define homelessness in the same way. A major project called the EU Homeless Count research is creating shared definitions of homelessness so that progress in achieving the goals of EPOCH can be monitored across all EU Member States. We think of ‘home’ as a place where we have family, somewhere that is warm, safe, private and secure, which means ‘home’ is defined in emotional, psychological and legal ways, it is not just a building that provides shelter. Researchers have tried to establish what ‘home’ means in order to build a better idea of what ‘homelessness’ means. One of the challenges here is that home is not always safe because of domestic abuse which disproportionately affects European women and because of issues like severe overcrowding and some housing not being fit for human habitation.