Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2019 Dec 1;9(11):e033237.
doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-033237.

Lifetime, 5-year and past-year prevalence of homelessness in Europe: a cross-national survey in eight European nations

Owen Taylor  1 , Sandrine Loubiere  2   3 , Aurelie Tinland  1   3 , Maria Vargas-Moniz  4 , Freek Spinnewijn  5 , Rachel Manning  6 , Marta Gaboardi  7 , Judith R L M Wolf  8 , Ana Bokszczanin  9 , Roberto Bernad  10 , Hakan Kallmen  11 , Paul Toro  12 , Jose Ornelas  4 , Pascal Auquier  1   3 ; HOME_EU Consortium Study Group; Members of the HOME_EU (Horizon 2020 GA/726997) Consortium Study Group
Collaborators, Affiliations

Lifetime, 5-year and past-year prevalence of homelessness in Europe: a cross-national survey in eight European nations

Owen Taylor et al. BMJ Open. .

Abstract

Objectives: To examine the lifetime, 5-year and past-year prevalence of homelessness among European citizens in eight European nations.

Design: A nationally representative telephone survey using trained bilingual interviewers and computer-assisted telephone interview software.

Setting: The study was conducted in France, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Spain and Sweden.

Participants: European adult citizens, selected from opt-in panels from March to December 2017. Total desired sample size was 5600, with 700 per country. Expected response rates of approximately 30% led to initial sample sizes of 2500 per country.

Main outcome measures: History of homelessness was assessed for lifetime, past 5 years and past year. Sociodemographic data were collected to assess correlates of homelessness prevalence using generalised linear models for clustered and weighted samples.

Results: Response rates ranged from 30.4% to 33.5% (n=5631). Homelessness prevalence was 4.96% for lifetime (95% CI 4.39% to 5.59%), 1.92% in the past 5 years (95% CI 1.57% to 2.33%) and 0.71% for the past year (95% CI 0.51% to 0.98%) and varied significantly between countries (pairwise comparison difference test, p<0.0001). Time spent homeless ranged between less than a week (21%) and more than a year (18%), with high contrasts between countries (p<0.0001). Male gender, age 45-54, lower secondary education, single status, unemployment and an urban environment were all independently strongly associated with lifetime homelessness (all OR >1.5).

Conclusions: The prevalence of homelessness among the surveyed nations is significantly higher than might be expected from point-in-time and homeless service use statistics. There was substantial variation in estimated prevalence across the eight nations. Coupled with the well-established health impacts of homelessness, medical professionals need to be aware of the increased health risks of those with experience of homelessness. These findings support policies aiming to improve health services for people exposed to homelessness.

Keywords: Europe; homelessness; prevalence; public health.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

References

    1. Feantsa, The Foundation Abbé Pierre . The third overview of housing exclusion in Europe 2018. Brussels, 2018. Available: https://www.feantsaresearch.org/en/report/2018/03/21/the-second-overview... [Accessed 15 Aug 2018].
    1. The Foundation Abbé Pierre, Feantsa . The second overview of housing exclusion in Europe 2017. Brussels, 2017. Available: http://www.feantsa.org/en/report/2017/03/21/the-second-overview-of-housi... [Accessed 16 Aug 2017].
    1. European Commission Confronting homelessness in the European Union. social investment package. Commission staff working document. SWD (2013) 42 final, 20 February 2013, 2013. Available: http://aei.pitt.edu/45917/ [Accessed 4 Aug 2017].
    1. Beijer U, Wolf A, Fazel S. Prevalence of tuberculosis, hepatitis C virus, and HIV in homeless people: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Lancet Infect Dis 2012;12:859–70. 10.1016/S1473-3099(12)70177-9 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Oppenheimer SC, Nurius PS, Green S. Homelessness history impacts on health outcomes and economic and risk behavior intermediaries: new insights from population data. Fam Soc 2016;97:230–42. 10.1606/1044-3894.2016.97.21 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

Publication types