- "Pust-outs": These people have been pushed out of their homes. Two common types of "push-outs" are teenagers who have been kicked out by their parents, and adults who have been evicted by landlords.
- Victims of environmental catastrophe
- The mentally ill: These people have been discharged from mental hospitals. They are given little or no treatment for their problems, and they are unable to care for themselves.
- The new poor: This group consists of unemployed workers whose work skills have become outmoded because of technological change.
- The technologically unqualified: Unlike the new poor, these unemployed workers never possessed technological qualifications.
- The elderly: These people have neither savings nor family support; they are old, unemployable, and discarded.
- Runaways: After fleeting intolerable situations, these boys and girls wander out streets.
- The demoralized: After suffering some personal tragedy, these people have given up and retreated into despair. The most common catalyst to their demoralization was divorce.
- Alcoholics: The old-fashioned skid-row wino is still out there.
- Ease addicts: These people actually choose to be homeless. For them, homelessness is a form of "early retirement". They have no responsibilities to others, and they can do mostly as they please. Some, in their 20s, spend their days playing chess in the street park.
- Travel addicts: These people also choose to be homeless. Addicted to wanderlust, they travel continuously. They even have their own name for themselves: "road dogs".
- Excitement addicts: These people, among the younger of the homeless, enjoy the thrill of danger. They like the excitement that comes from "living on the edge". Being on the streets offers many "edge" opportunities.
Source: Page 224, "Social Problems: A Down-To-Earth Approach (9th Edition)"
