Социальная политика по сокращению бездомности в Литве и Европейском Союзе: анализ основных документов

ENHomelessness at present moment is the most important problem of poverty and social exclusion. Homelessness is relevant worldwide, and reduction or abolition of homelessness is the most important social policy agenda of all countries in the world. The number of homeless people in the world is growing. So, in Lithuania and EU, problems of homelessness are solved not effectively enough. In recent years, Europe has developed a few national, regional and local strategies, different programs with clear goals to eliminate problem of homelessness. Lithuania and other EU countries are developing strategies and programs to reduce poverty and homelessness. However in our country, in Europe and around the world, more and more people live in poverty and are homeless. We can assume that for various reasons (obsolete political agenda, difficult economic situation in the countries, etc.), these strategies are not carried out in full, so the problem of poverty and homelessness is not solved effectively. We think that there is a variety of internal and external factors that explain this paradox. First of all, definition of the homeless is problematic - whom should we call as – a homeless person? Further, it is difficult to determine number of homeless people and scope of the problem. Complicated political situation in some countries, ongoing global economic crisis, increasing social differentiation, and others factors contribute to the growth of poverty and homelessness. Therefore, the plans of EU to reduce the huge number of poor and homeless people in the near future seem to be unrealistic at this point. Key Words: homeless, homelessness, social policy. [From the publication]