Introduction: the state-of-the-art research of homelessness and provision of services in Europe - Dragana Avramov Part 1 - Poverty, social exclusion and homelessness Weakening and breaking of social ties: analysis of explanatory factors - Serge Paugam Free markets, poverty and social exclusion - Katherine Duffy Theoretical uses and misuses of the notion of exclusion - Marc-Henry Soulet Homelessness and the housing factor: learning from the debate on homelessness and poverty - Antonio Tosi Conclusions and policy implications - Antonio Tosi Part 2 - The research of homelessness: data and methodology Data sources on homelessness and data necessary for needs-based research - Dragana Avramov Annual survey on homelessness in Finland: definitions and methodological aspects - Sirkka-Liisa Karkkainen Living in the streets of Vienna: the methodology of the 1993 ICCR study - Angelika Kofler The homeless in Paris: a representative sample survey of users of services for the homeless - Maryse Marpsat and Jean-Marie Firdion Using 'capture-recapture' to estimate the size of the homeless population - Malcolm Williams Conclusions and policy implications - Angelika Kofler Part 3 - Values and policies in relation to homelessness Regimes of social policy in Europe and the patterning of homelessness - Mary Daly Different policy approaches to homelessness - Jan Vranken Housing policy and homelessness: the danish case - Hans Kristensen Housing policy and homelessness in Finland - Sirkka-Liisa Karkkainen Conclusions and policy implications - Inger Koch-Nielsen Part 4 - Services for homeless people - needs and provisions Social emergency: between myth and reality - Marc-Henry Soulet The Heterogeneity of homelessness and the consequences for service provision - Inger Koch-Nielsen and Tobias Borner Stax Temporary accommodation for homeless people in Germany with special focus on the provision for immigrants and asylum seekers - Volker Busch-Geertsema Urgent accommodation shelters for homeless people in Greece: who provides services and who uses them? - Aristides Sapounakis Reflections on homelessness as seen from an institution for the homeless in Copenhagen - Preben Brandt Conclusions and policy implications - Sirkka-Liisa karkkainen Part 5 - The research agenda Reflections on needs for future research - Dragana Avramov