Opuscula Sociologica

The escalating and strengthening problem of homelessness and flat exclusion is the challenge for many contemporary societies. This problem is identified as relatively new and it is insufficiently recognized so far. In the article the authoress proposes to keep the phenomenon of homelessness understood as a form of social exclusion through the prism of applicable strategic and programmatic documents. In the first part of her paper the authoress reviews definitions of the homelessness, characterizes its dimension an analyses in the context of present discussions about social exclusion and underclass. In the second part, the authoress analyses the selected European, national and local juridical acts as well as policy statements and is concerned with the issue of presence the homelessness and flat exclusion aspects in these documents. She raises the problem of complexity of the phenomenon. This character implies multiplicity of aspects that should be taken into consideration while conducting analyzes of the widely understood social policy (social assistance, flat policy, labor market policy, education and health policy), especially when the resolution of this problem is in search (preventive influences, intervention and readaptation).