Social Marginalisation vs. Sustainable Development – Case of Homelessness

The article presents the results of the research on marginalization of the homeless in the Lublin Province. 500 individual questionnaire interviews were conducted with the homeless in four cities in the region. Specially developed for this type of research indicators were used. The research findings show that more than half of the homeless experience very high levels of social exclusion (maximum, on the scale). The article also attempts to link the exclusion level with social and demographic characteristics of the homeless (gender, age, education) and variables, such as causes and length of homelessness, family-of-origin and willingness to get out of homelessness. The research conducted contributes to the discussion on the social dimension of sustainable development and its barriers, such as marginalization.