History and Homelessness Part 1

Homelessness is not new, just as negative attitudes towards the homeless population are not new (O'Reilly-Fleming, 1993).

-In England in the 1300s, vagrancy laws targeted the homeless population (O'Reilly-Fleming, 1993)

-Before the 1900s, British colonies brought their class structure to America. This resulted in issues with property ownership and lead to workhouse labor tests which allowed people to discriminate against those living in poverty (O'Reilly-Fleming, 1993).

-Post World War 2, Canada had issues with overcrowding in housing. The private sector struggled with providing proper living arrangments to Canadians (O'Reilly-Fleming, 1993)

-The 1930s housing shortage made life even more difficult for Canadians, which was worsened by the lack of media attention and discussion of these issues (Finkel, 2006).

A former English Workhouse (Wikipedia)