Abstract The present paper identifies three 'homeless careers' abstracted from the diversity and complexity of individual cases and pathways. These are the 'youth career', the 'housing crisis career' and the 'family breakdown career'. The paper discusses the usefulness of the career typology for framing interventions. A core argument is that early intervention involves different forms of practice in each pathway. For young people, early intervention has to occur when they are at the 'in-and-out' stage, before they have made a permanent break from family. For adults experiencing housing crisis, early intervention is about providing assistance to people before they lose their accommodation. The family breakdown career commonly involves domestic violence, so although early intervention may involve family reconciliation, in many cases it involves supporting victims of domestic violence to move to alternative, secure accommodation.