Homelessness, also known as houselessness or being unhoused or unsheltered, is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and functional housing. The general category includes disparate situations, such as living on the streets, moving between temporary accommodation such as family or friends, living in boarding houses with no security of tenure, and people who leave their domiciles because of civil conflict and are refugees within their country.
The legal status of homeless people varies from place to place. United States government homeless enumeration studies also include people who sleep in a public or private place, which is not designed for use as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings. Homelessness and poverty are interrelated. There is no standardized method for counting homeless individuals and identifying their needs; consequently, most cities only have estimated figures for their homeless populations.
In 2024, an estimated 140–150 million people worldwide were homeless, and as many as 1.6 billion people live as squatters, refugees, or in temporary shelters. Unhoused persons who travel have been termed vagrants in the past; of those, persons looking for work are hobos, whereas those who do not are tramps.
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