Characteristics of the homeless people

Homelessness is the condition of people without a regular dwelling. People who are homeless are most often unable to acquire and maintain regular, safe, secure and adequate housing, or lack "fixed, regular, and adequate night-time residence, and houselessnes is mencioned like the condition of being without a house or home, and inadequate experience of shelter, ranging from a complete lack of selter at one end of the continuum to severely inadequate housing conditions at the other hospital and community psychiatry,J,G and P.F.E included the concept of desaffiliation in theri definition.


They wrote that loss of family and communty bonds is central to homelessness
Homeless or destitute or homeless (or, in terms that are considered less discriminatory and more politically correct, homeless person or person on the street or people homeless or person without well established domicile or person without permanent residence) he is a person, child or adult of either sex who has no permanent place to live and is forced to live in the open, either in the streets, in doorways of houses or temporarily in shelters, because a chained, sudden and traumatic of his family, social and labor ties brk. This problem is more pronounced in large cities and suburbs, being less visible in the villages or in the countryside.

91.5% of respondents to the realizationof this study are men and 8.5% women: in absolute terms, 183 men and 17 women.
The average age is 36 years. By age groups, 30% are under 30 years, 31% between 30 and 39, 28% between 40 and 49 and 11% 50
or more.
29% is in a situation of homelessness for having come from another country and not have a house to live, 22% for nonpayment of previous home, 16% due to problems with his family and 10% by consuming drugs. Others appear less relevant reasons, such as divorce or leave an institution
, in most cases the jail and not have family support. Over time that lead in this situation, 32% take between one and six months, 26.5% between six months and two years, 15% between two and five years and 20% five or more years. As can be seen, and understanding the border five years as the time it certifies greater chronicity of the group, one fifth of the surveyed population is the one that could be considered chronic. The data also suggest that the current economic and employment crisis have influenced these figures, even when taking into account the views of some of the entities, which underpin an increase in demand for resources in recent months . In any case, at the time the survey was conducted it was still at the beginning of the current crisis, so it is difficult to know what has been its impact on the data reviewed. We will have to wait for more data to assess the overall impact of the crisis on the group of the homeless.
Distribution of the homeless by country of origin and age groups

State of health
Self-reported health is positive, since 52.5% of respondents answered that having a good or very good health.
Within this group, they appear overrepresented those under 30 years, of foreign origin, without active consumption and disease
important. 15.5%, however, claims to have a bad or very bad health. In this case people between 40 and 49, of Aboriginal origin, with current or past consumption and serious diseases prevail. From this point of view, therefore, two clearly defined and important differences in their characteristics groups appear. This distinction, as will be seen throughout this article, is key to a proper understanding of the phenomenon of no hogarismo, at least in our environment.
With respect to health, 51% did not suffer from any serious illness, compared with 48.5% yes.
The most serious diseases that suffer are the hepatitis B or C, which occurs in 40.2% of the homeless, and AIDS (30.9%). Some distance other ailments, such as asthma (5.2%) or cancer (4.2%) are placed. 11.3% report having a disability.
These percentages indicate that the most common pathologies are associated with risky drinking practices, especially the intravenous use
drug. As can be seen, is a significant mismatch between the perceived and actual health status as it is striking that
only 15.5% say they have a poor or very poor health, and simultaneously, a 48.5% claiming to have a serious illness.
Turning now to alcohol or other drugs, the most commonly used substance is alcohol, and that 18% consume it regularly and 39% occasionally.
Below this, other substances are placed, for example, joints, cocaine or heroin, which have been consumed in the past month, respectively, by 36%, 30.5% and 22.5 % of the homeless. With a more limited use, they appear other substances, such as pills, speed or ketamine.

Sources:
 http://www.ine.es/press/np761.pdf
 http://www.studentsagainsthunger.org/page/hhp/overview-homelessness-america
 http://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/the-catastrophe-of-homelessness/facts-about-homelessness/