One almost never make a “free and informed choice” to become homeless. (However the fact of remaining homelessness might result from such a choice). Homelessness is usually brought about by specific events that the individual was not able to effectively overcome for lack of economic, cultural, relational or personal resources.

We have identified the following “conventional” roots causes of homelessness are:

1. previous institutionalization;
2. loss of home or shelter;
3. expulsion from educational and social processes;
4. expulsion from productive processes;
5. estrangement from the family;
6. homeless parents;
7. traumatic break with family;
8. exposure to abuse;
9. personality disorder;
10. deviant personality;
11. serious alcohol or narcotic addiction.

The roots causes of the personal degradation that leads to homelessness are a mixture of social and personal issues such as:

• A family history of abandonment and estrangement;A family in which “deviant” models of behavior are learned (such as alcoholism, drug addiction, or other “dissociative” behaviors);
• Patterns of low self-esteem that manifest prior to the condition of homeless;Lack of problem solving skills which leave one powerless in the face of emotional hardship, crisis, frustrations, failures, etc.;
• Previous institutionalization (reformatory, prison, etc.) which leads to a loss of individualism and independence;
• Crisis in the employment market or in the housing market presenting a hardship that one is unable to resolve. Lack of (or perceived lack of) opportunities can lead to a sort of “adaptation to failure,” and thus resignation. This is especially the case after several attempts at labor insertion or reinsertion, or after an eviction.