... determine who receives assistance, the amount, type of provided and by whom" (Daly, 1996: 1). The beginning of state intervention and the development of housing law and policy as we know it today can be traced back to the days of the Poor Law and workhouse provision. It was not until the National Assistance Act 1948, that the "Poor Law was abolished and even then only in name, for many of the practices of social exclusion, stigmatisation...were less easily confined to the dustbins of history, none more so than in the treatment of homeless families" (Lowe, 1997: 22). The 1948 National Assistance Act continued to view homelessness as a result of vagrancy, alcoholism, destitution, pauperism and unwillingness to work In essence the act did not create a comprehensive, national framework for dealing with the problem and so 'legitimate homelessness' was the result of a 'natural' disaster such as floods and ...

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