Unlocking Housing for Housing First

Housing First has been successfully piloted and tested in cities throughout Europe for over fifteen years and has proven to be extremely successful.

The creation of more temporary accommodation solutions will not help cities or national governments to successfully address homelessness, let alone prevent more people from becoming homeless. Over the past decade, it has become clear that to effectively reduce homelessness, a shift to a Housing First and housing-led approach is necessary.

Homelessness continues to be an acute problem for almost all countries in Europe, but there is new political eagerness to tackle this problem, including from the European Union with the establishment of the European Platform to Combat Homelessness, as well as promising progress in several European countries as well as at local level.

Homelessness cannot be properly addressed or ended with temporary solutions or pilot projects; we know that permanent, affordable, and quality housing is required. We also know that finding more housing to end homelessness is a challenge in Europe’s current housing crisis.

This challenging environment cannot be used as an excuse for inaction, however. Housing solutions for Housing First can and must be developed alongside other actions to increase the supply of affordable social housing for people who need it.

This paper is a collaboration of the Housing First Europe Hub and the Housing Solutions Platform to start the much-needed conversation about how we can unlock more housing for Housing First and housing-led solutions to homelessness.

Also Read: Seeking Regional Solutions to Bay Area Housing Crisis