ETHOS – EUROPEAN TYPOLOGY ON HOMELESSNESS AND HOUSING EXCLUSION

The homelessness is one of the main societal problems dealt with by the Strategy for Social Protection and EU Accession. Prevention of homelessness and resolution of the housing issues requires understanding of the way and the process which leads to homelessness, thus creating wide perception on the meaning of homelessness.

FEANTSA (European Association of Organizations Working with Homeless People) has developed a typology on homelessness and housing exclusion under the name of ETHOS.

ETHOS starts with the conceptual framework which defines the three segments of housing. The absence of any of these segments will indicate homelessness.

Having a home means: possession of an appropriate space which is exclusively owned by the person and his /her family (PHYSICAL DOMAIN). The space should offer a possibility for maintenance of privacy and social relations (SOCIAL DOMAIN) and there should be a legal right for the use of the space (LEGAL DOMAIN).

This leads to four different basic forms or concepts: 1.without roof, 2.without a home, 3.Insecure housing,

4. Inappropriate housing. Each of these may be described as a lack of home.

ETHOS classifies the persons without a home based on their life situation or housing situation.

These conceptual categories are divided in 13 operational categories, which may be used for defining different goals for the policy as marking the problem with homelessness, development, monitoring and evaluation of the policy.

 

 

Operational category		Life situation	General definition
1	People living in difficult conditions	*1.1	In a public space or out in the open	Life on the street or in public places, without shelter which resembles a residence	No foof
2	People placed in urgent housing	*2.1	Sleep-over shelters	People who do not have regular place of residence and use the services of the shelters for sleepover
3	People housed in shelters for homeless	3.1 *3.2 3.3	Hostels for homeless Temporary housing Transition Housing Centres	Short-term stay	No home
4	People housed in shelters for women	*4.1	Shelters and reception points for women	Women, mostly domestic violence victims, housed in shelter-centres intended for short-stay
5	People placed in housing intended for immigrants	*5.1 5.2	*temporary housing / shelter centres Housing for workers – immigrants	Immigrants in shelters and in centres for short-term housing due to their immigrant status
6	People soon to be released from prison, from health care or other institutions	*6.1 *6.2 *6.3	*Correctional and penitentiary institutions *Health care institutions (including centres for rehabilitation of addicts, psychiatric hospitals) **Institutions for children / homes	No available home prior to leaving the institution Stays longer in the institution due to absence of home No identified home (ex. until the 18th birthday)
7	People receiving long-term support due to homelessness	7.1 7.2	Residential housing of elderly homeless people Supported housing of former homeless people	Longer-term housing with care for former homeless people (usually for a time 7.2 period longer than one year)
					Precarious housing
8	People living in insecure housing	*8.1 *8.2 *8.3	Temporary housing with relatives and close friends No (sub) lease agreement Usurped land	Life in conventional residence, which is not a regular place of residence and is used due to absence of personal home Usurpation of housing (no legal documentation for lease) Usurpation of land (no documents for ownership)
9	People living under threat of eviction	*9.1 *9.2	Legal decision for eviction (rented residence) Repossession of mortgaged home	Eviction decision is in effect Creditor possesses legal decision to takeover ownership
10	People living under threat of violence	*10.1	Incidents registered by the police	Police acts to secure safe harbor for the domestic violence victim
11	People living in temporary, unconventional residences	11.1 *11.2 *11.3	Mobile homes Unconventional objects Temporary structures	Life in temporary home with no conditions for regular housing. Shelter or substandard cabin. Tent or cabin.	Inadequate housing
12	People living in uninhabitable residential conditions	12.1	Usurpation of an uninhabitable object	Defined as inappropriate housing according to national housing legislation
13	People living in overcrowded home	13.1	According to the highest norm for over crowdedness at national level	In case when the national norm for the number of people living in one room is surpassed.

– IN MACEDONIA THE CATEGORIES ARE MARKED WITH ASTERISK (*)