Supporting people through Housing First: the experience of social housing providers

Introduction

This briefing explores the issue of Housing First from the perspective of housing provider members of Housing Europe that have experience with the implementation of this model of homeless service provision.

It is by no means a comprehensive overview on the Housing First model. Plenty of literature exists on this subject from experts and specialised institutions. In the European context, for instance, we highly recommend readers to refer to the Housing First Europe Hub (see text box below).

However, the Housing First model is receiving increasing attention from public authorities and the wider public, and recent policy reforms in some member states attempt to introduce this model on a wider scale whilst involving social housing providers more closely. We believe the experience of some of our members can therefore help with better shaping future policies and sector strategies in this regard, and supporting implementation in other countries.

Objectives

The ultimate goal is to help with roll out/scaling up, prevent potential backlash, identify “which pitfalls to avoid”, and help social housing providers in building arguments; for instance, as to what support and funding they need from their governments in order to successfully facilitate Housing First in their country.

Methodology

To this goal, we’ve asked selected members to reflect on the following questions:

• Where is Housing First implemented and to what extent does it rely on housing owned and managed by public, social and cooperative housing providers?
• What obstacles did they face (or are still facing if this is the case) with regards to Housing First?
• What are the key elements that are needed to make it work?
• What should be avoided?

The briefing is based on the responses we received as well as relevant literature and evaluations at national level as provided by our member organisations.