2. Is there an official definition on homelessness

No, not an official one in Denmark, but in august 2007 SFI – the Danish National Centre for Social Research published the report Homelessness in Denmark. National Survey (In Danish: Hjemløshed i Danmark. National kortlægning), and in the survey you can find an operational definition of homelessness. The survey was initiated by the Minister of Social Affairs, and the definition can therefore be regarded as the most official one in Denmark. The survey is only available in Danish but you can read an English summary here.  You can find the Danish version here: http://www.sfi.dk/sw51282.asp

There is a need for limiting the number of homeless people quantitatively and to understand, qualitatively, what it means to be homeless.

projekt UDENFOR uses the following, operational definition: a person must be considered to be homeless if, for the last couple of nights, he or she has been sleeping on the street, in a shelter for homeless, has been hospitalised or imprisoned, but with a impending release and with no home to return to, has been staying with different friends or family without having a home address of his or her own, or who has had four different addresses within the last 6 months.

The following is a qualitative definition: a person is considered to be homeless if he or she does not have a dwelling that can be considered stable, permanent and fulfilling of the individual's requirements for a reasonable standard. At the same time, this person is not able to relate to society, nor make use of its institutions in the broadest sense – such as family network and private and public institutions of any kind. The cause of this may be open or hidden conditions for the individual or it may be the way society is organised.

The above definitions have been taken from Mr Preben Brands dissertation young homeless people in Copenhagen, published by Fadl in 1992.

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