Homelessness Around The World

Boston conducted its 32nd census of the city’s homeless population earlier this week. A report to the United Nations in 2005 stated there were an estimated 100 million homeless people in the world, and an additional 1.6 billion living without adequate housing. Here are some images of homelessness across the globe, collected from wire images this year. -- Lloyd Young (31 photos total)

John Filliger who has been homeless for the past five years, lies wrapped in bedding on Washington Street in the heart of the Downtown Crossing area of Boston Dec. 12. Filliger, who was offered a bed in a shelter for the evening, stayed on the street for the night and was counted in the annual homeless census. (Charles Krupa/Associated Press)

2

A homeless man keeps himself warm near a bonfire on the pavement in New Delhi, India, Dec. 13. According to a news agency, India's Supreme Court has directed state governments to build adequate number of night shelters to ensure that no homeless person has to sleep under the open sky this winter. Though India is famous for its brutally hot summers, temperatures fall sharply for a few weeks in Dec. and Jan. Poor people, particularly those living on the streets, are the worst hit. (Mustafa Quraishi/Associated Press) #

3

Beverly McKinney, 63, sleeps in her wheelchair at St. Martin de Porres Church in Yorba Linda, Ca., because a knee injury prevents her from sleeping on the floor, she said. Her possessions include two blankets, food, spare clothes and her husband's ashes. She has been homeless since his death in Aug. (Mindy Schauer/Associated Press/Orange County Regsiter) #

4

Wiley James Hickman peeks over the school bus seat on his way to school at Libby Booth Elemantery in Reno, Nev. By Washoe County School District's definition, Wiley is a Child in Transition, or homeless. (Andy Barron/Associated Press/The Reno Gazette-Journal) #

5

Homeless Egyptian children play near electoral campaign posters in Giza, southwest of Cairo on Dec. 13 ahead of the second phase of voting in parliamentary elections. (Mohammed Abed/AFP/Getty Images) #

6

A homeless man warms his foot by the flames of a fire in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Ahmad Masood/Reuters) #

7

A homeless man sleeps on the pavement early in the morning during Spain's General Elections on Nov. 20 in Barcelona. Spaniards are going to the polls today to vote for Spain's new Prime Minister and 208 directly elected seats in the Senate, the Spanish Parliament's upper house. (David Ramos/Getty Images) #

8

Shoppers pass a homeless woman on Fifth Avenue on "Black Friday" Nov. 25 in New York City. Marking the start of the holiday shopping season, "Black Friday" is one of American retailers' busiest days of the year. (Michael Nagle/Getty Images) #

9

Residents sift through the ruins of their houses after a fire in Makati city, Metro Manila. Fire razed at least 900 shanty houses leaving more than 2,000 families homeless, police said. (Erik De Castro/Reuters) #

10

Pakistanis walk past a homeless woman resting on a railway bridge in Rawalpindi on Nov.13. A United Nations report on global poverty, has pointed to higher poverty levels in India rather than Pakistan and India, the world's second fastest growing economy, has been ranked as poorer than in Pakistan. (Farooq Naeem/AFP/Getty Images) #

11

A homeless man eats outside the Hospital San Juan de Dios in Guatemala City Nov. 29. According to the National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction more than 1,400 homeless people have sought refuge in 13 shelters around the country due to low temperatures. (Jorge Dan Lopez/Reuters) #

12

A homeless man waits to get food donations beside a street in Las Vegas on Nov. 13. The Labor Department said the economy managed to break away from three months of 9.1 percent unemployment in October, but that jobs are being generated at a pace that offers little succor to the 14 million Americans looking for work. US officials have launched an independent review process in which individuals can challenge foreclosures carried out by 14 major lenders in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Independent consultants would assess if borrowers lost out financially "through errors, misrepresentations or other deficiencies in foreclosure practices," the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said. (Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images) #

13

A homeless man sleeps in a park as birds look for food in Colombo, Sri Lanka Nov. 24. (Gemunu Amarasinghe/Associated Press) #

14

Shoppers walk past a homeless man begging along a pavement n in Sydney Dec. 8. Australia's unemployment rate unexpectedly rose to 5.3 percent in Nov., data showed on Dec. 8, with the number of people at work falling as businesses cut costs. (Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty Images) #

15

A homeless man begs for money during the launch of the Christmas celebrations and the illumination of Athens central Syntagma square Dec. 9. There will be no central Christmas tree in Athens this year, and the city estimated the cost of the 2011 Christmas celebrations at 200,000 euros (267,400 US dollars), roughly 10 percent of the previous year's spendings for the season. (Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty Images) #

16

Homeless people sit inside a shelter named The Crypt (Die Gruft) in Vienna Dec. 1. The Crypt is a facility cared by Caritas and solicits for donations from the public during the cold winter season. (Lisi Niesner/Reuters) #

17

A homeless man sits on the stairs in front of the BNP Paribas Bank at la Defense business district, near Paris Nov. 10. The European Union warned that the 17 country eurozone could slip back into recession next year as the debt crisis spins out of control. The EU's economic watchdog, the European Commission, predicted that the eurozone will grow only a paltry 0.5 percent in 2012 way down from its earlier forecast of 1.8 percent growth. EU unemployment will be stuck at 9.5 percent for the foreseeable future. (Michel Euler/Associated Press) #

18

An Armenian family from Georgia waits in the emergency room of the Angers University Hospital in Angers, western France Nov. 9. The family was sent to the hospital by members of SAMU Social, a social humanitarian emergency service to assist the homeless. Asylum seekers from Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea and eastern Europe are demanding the right to remain in France. The city of Angers asked for greater provision of humanitarian aid to cope with the large number of asylum seekers. (Stephane Mahe/Reuters) #

19

A homeless man stands in the sunny part of a central Athens alley to get warm Dec. 9. Debt-crippled Greece is heading for a fourth year of recession among high unemployment. The country's statistical authority said Friday that the economy shrunk 5 percent on the year in the third quarter, compared to 7.4 percent on the year in the April-June period. (Petros Giannakouris/Associated Press) #

20

A homeless man sleeps outside a bank in Athens Nov. 25. Since the debt crisis erupted in late 2009, tens of thousands of people have lost their jobs or businesses and many others struggle on in employment where they haven't seen a paycheck in months. The number of homeless has shot up by about a quarter over the past two years to reach an estimated 20,000, social workers say. (Petros Giannakouris/Associated Press) #

21

Children from a local skate club distribute food to the homeless along a street in Las Vegas on Nov. 13. The Labor Department said the economy managed to break away from three months of 9.1 percent unemployment in October, but that jobs are being generated at a pace that offers little succor to the 14 million Americans looking for work. (Jewel Samad/AFP/Getty Images) #

22

A woman sits on a mattress in a municipal shelter in Guatemala City Nov. 29. According to Guatemala's National Coordinator for Disaster Reduction more than 1,400 homeless people have sought refuge in 13 shelters around the country due to low temperatures. (Jorge Dan Lopez/Reuters) #

23

Two men play cards Nov. 23 in a house that was destroyed by the earthquake in the Fort Nationale neighborhood of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. An ambitious reconstruction panel, co-chaired former US President Bill Clinton, was created 3 months after the Jan. 2010 earhtquake to coordinate the efforts to rebuild Haiti after the quake destroyed much of the capital and surrounding area, throwing more than a million homeless into huge, squalid resettlement camps. Almost two years after an earthquake devastated Haiti, less than half the $4.6 billion in pledged aid has been distributed and political squabbling is threatening to bringing a coordinated reconstruction efforts to an abrupt halt. (Ramon Espinosa/Associated Press) #

24

Angelic Davis, holds, her three-month-old son Richard Williams IV at a homeless shelter in Dallas Dec. 12. The recession and unemployment have created a man made disaster that has caused a steady increase in the number of homeless children in Texas. (Lm Otero/Associated Press) #

25

Homeless people sleep in an open ground area near the Jama Masjid mosque in New Delhi, India Dec. 13. According to a news agency, India's Supreme Court has directed state governments to build adequate number of night shelters to ensure that no homeless person has to sleep under the open sky this winter. (ustafa Quraishi/Associated Press) #

26

A homeless man covers himself with a plastic banner to shield himself from the cold near Jama Masjid mosque in New Delhi, India. (Mustafa Quraishi/Associated Press) #

27

A homeless man, with a sign that reads in Spanish "Tigres champion" hanging from his neck and a cap with the words Merry Christmas begs for money in Monterrey, Mexico Dec. 12. Tigres won Mexico's Apertura 2011 soccer championship after defeating Santos Laguna 3-1 at home on Dec 11. (Daniel Jayo/Associated Press) #

28

Jackie Millet, 60, who is homeless, poses for a photo at the Occupy Eugene site Dec. 7 in Eugene, Ore. "For the homeless we need a place to be. We don't need to be criminalized," Millet said. (Kevin Clark/Associated Press/The Register-Guard) #

29

A homeless woman and her child sleep on a bench in a park in Manila's Chinatown Dec. 13. (Erik De Castro/Reuters) #

30

Homeless women look on during the baptism of former homeless alcoholic Sergei Ratov in Stavropol, Russia. The Brotherhood of the Holy Spirit is a group of around 70 reformed alcoholics and drug users who have built a rehabilitation centre outside Stavropol, with the support of the Orthodox church. (Eduard Korniyenko/Reuters) #

31

Clients line up at St. Martin de Porres Church in Yorba Linda, Ca. The church takes in about 150 homeless people bused from Fullerton and Santa Ana, offering them a hot meal, new socks and backpacks and a warm place to sleep for the evening. (Mindy Schauer/Orange County Register, via Associated Press #