It is making this submission to the Intergovernmental Conference of 1996 in order to promote the social progress of the European Union, particularly for its most deprived citizens. Homelessness leads to severe social and medical consequences, which include physical hardship, poor health, shortened life spans, lack of employment opportunities and alienation. The persistence of this extreme form of deprivation in the most affluent association of nations in the world is unacceptable and requires the urgent attention of the European Union. As long as homeless people continue to endure hardship, the notion of a 'social dimension' to the European Union remains only rhetoric. The perseverance of homelessness is associated with rising levels of poverty which have escalated since the 1970s.
Homelessness is connected with changing social conditions in the member States.
Lack of access to affordable housing remains the principal reason for the continuation of high levels of homelessness. Initial references to homelessness in Europe were made in the reports and documentation of the first and second anti-poverty programs. The European Commission took an interest in the issue with its decision in 1985 to fund meetings of interested parties and subsequently a network concerned with the issue. In 1989, the first of five meetings of European housing ministers was held. These meetings compared patterns of housing provision in the member States, examined information on housing provision and received representations from networks concerned with homelessness.