Family homelessness has emerged as a serious global problem (Stronge, 2000). Over the past 25 years in the United States, the makeup of the homeless population has changed significantly. As De Angelis (1994) reports: The landscape of homelessness has changed since the early 1980s, when nearly all homeless people were men. Today,…

Compares attitudes toward the homeless in Japan and the United States through a survey of 268 Japanese and 254 U.S. adults and adolescents interviewed in public places. In Japan, homelessness is seldom discussed, and poverty, which may be as widespread as in the United States, is often not recognized. (SLD)

Homelessness has emerged on the public agenda of economically advanced nations but not all such issues become recognized as "legitimate" social problems. National politicians and policymakers have an interest in defining the problem narrowly in order to avoid response and implied criticism of existing policies and institutions. Local…