Overview

Homelessness is now a much greater problem than twenty years ago. In Britain today around half a million homeless people form a regrettable permanent 'underclass'. This study spells out their similarities with the spurned vagrant of bygone days. It traces how for centuries emergent laws have combated alleged threats from unruly vagrants while largely ignoring causal factors like economic fluctuation, bad harvests, disease and war. It is argued that only educational and social reform will alleviate the homeless plight.

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Reviews

'Humphreys' survey can be recommended as a comprehensive modern summary of long-term national responses to vagrancy.' - Pamela Horn, The Local Historian 'Humphreys is to be congratulated for attempting this overview. It (No Fixed Abode) should be required reading for policy makers and a copy ought to be sent post haste to the Social Exclusion Unit of the Cabinet Office'. - Dr A.J. Kidd, Economic History Review

'Humphreys' survey can be recommended as a comprehensive modern summary of long-term national responses to vagrancy.' - Pamela Horn, The Local Historian 'Humphreys is to be congratulated for attempting this overview. It (No Fixed Abode) should be required reading for policy makers and a copy ought to be sent post haste to the Social Exclusion Unit of the Cabinet Office'. - Dr A.J. Kidd, Economic History Review

Author Information

ROBERT HUMPHREYS trained first as an engineer, prior to a wide-ranging career including applied research, university lecturing, consultancy and senior management in the private sector. He now teaches in the Department of Economic History at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Dr Humphreys is the author of Sin, Organised Charity and the Poor Law in Victorian England .

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