THE PROBLEM OF HOMELESSNESS IN THE SOCIAL WELFARE SYSTEM: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Homelessness is a social problem that represents a challenge for the entire so-ciety, therefore policy holders and social welfare systems should have the obligation and responsibility of creating measures for the effective fight against homelessness based on professional and scientific indicators. Croatia still does not have a clear methodology for monitoring the number of homeless people and indicators of ho-melessness. There is a significant difference in the number of officially registered homeless people in the social welfare system and data from civil society organiza-tions and homeless service providers. The absence of relevant data on the number of homeless people has an effect on the attitude of the profession towards the pro-blem of homelessness and the system for organizing comprehensive care for the homeless. Also, the fact that the homeless were only defined as beneficiaries in the social welfare system for the first time in 2011 indicates that it was a social problem that was not recognized in our society for a long time. Therefore, this work aims to describe and problematize insurance in the social welfare system as a competent system for exercising rights and benefits for combating poverty and organizing the provision of assistance to socially vulnerable persons. The homeless represent one of the most vulnerable social groups, exposed to extreme poverty, risk of social exc-lusion, prejudice and stigma. The complexity of the problem of homelessness, the individual specificities of the homeless and the difficult access to exercising rights and social services, requires a good knowledge of the problem, sensitization and a highly individualized approach of experts in the social care system.