Are elderly people and women increasingly among the homeless?
It’s almost all age groups. When you also look at the extent of street children, in fact, it’s very disturbing to see that in countries like India and Brazil you sometimes see children on the street as young as 6 or 7. And obviously, the impact is greater on children. Women are affected quite significantly, both in the developing and in the developed world. Women who are fleeing domestic violence, women who are not able to cope, women who are being evicted from homes because their husband died of AIDS. There’s a range of women that are affected, and also we found that 70 percent of women who are homeless are heads of households. So you see the vulnerability women face. Single parents, single-parent households, women who are escaping violence. We find in most countries the shelters that are there are not directed at the women. For example, in New Delhi today, there’s only one shelter for women. Q: In the affluent societies of the United States, Canada, Australia — what has triggered th
