This is an interesting and challenging question to answer. So, I first want to explore how Academia defines homelessness based on my research, trying to understand the answer to this same question:

Academia has spent decades debating how to define homelessness. Whether to count only those literally on the streets and in shelters or include the 3.7 million (2022) Americans doubled up with family, the couch surfers invisible to official counts, those in cars or motels, or those a paycheck away from eviction. Scholars argue over typologies: transitional versus episodic versus chronic, roofless versus houseless versus insecure housing. They debate whether HUD’s narrow four-category framework or McKinney-Vento’s broader educational definition better captures the scope. Meanwhile, European rese

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