WELFARE LAW UK

Welfare Law UK



Welfare Law UK

Introduction

Homelessness is an emotive word that conjures up in people's minds pictures of the tramp walking the street, smelly, dirty and hungry, or the alcoholic, obnoxious, loud and drunk. To view all homeless people in terms of these two stereotypes is to do many an injustice. It can also act as an obstacle to tackling a serious problem. The definition used often relates directly to the objectives and ethos of the body or organization defining it (Arden, 2003, 115). Thus, all definitions become relative and prone to variation. In spite of this, definitions have shaped and formed public policy; moulded and manipulated public opinion identified causes and defined solutions. For example statutory definitions Include families in precarious housing or temporary accommodation, but exclude most single male rough sleepers.

Homelessness is the absence of any home or permanent residence. In this situation, there are people who start to live on the streets, in hostels, illegally occupied dwellings or temporary premises without a permanent right of ownership. Homelessness has become a major problem in Europe, North America, Australia and many other parts of the world in the last ten years, especially among young people. In England, a group of homeless people needs to differentiate on their rights to social security housing (Bringle, 2010, 12).

Part 1

Legal Definition of Homelessness

Housing Act 1996 gives legal definition for Wales and England. According to Act a person will be considered homeless if (Brammer, 2010, 20):

They are entitled to occupy no accommodation or;

They have accommodation, but they are unable to occupy that accommodation because they do not find it reasonable.

According to Act this legal definition is inclined in terms of right of a person to acquire home, the definition does not include specific situations in which people are living, for example, living in a hostel or rough sleeping. The definition is not even restricted to people who have somehow proved themselves as homeless, it also does not include people who consider themselves, as homeless by seeking help from homelessness agency or local authority. In short legal definition of homelessness is formed on the basis of two most significant conditions such as “licence to occupy” and “reasonable to occupy”. These two bases are inherently subjective and mattes of judgement (Clements, 2011, 7).

It is established that the homeless are those who have the right to social housing on the "Law of the homeless people" of 1977 and the "Housing Act" of 1985, including homeless families with minor children (as with both parents and one) and the homeless over 60 years. Families do not just occupy a priority position, but must also reside in the area and to be unintentionally homeless. If they meet these conditions, the local authorities are obliged to settle into new homes (Marcus, 2006, 52).

If we talk about the legal definition of homelessness on Scotland, we found some differences in the definition given by 2001 Housing Act Scotland Act. This definition says that a person is considered as homeless if they ...