Ending homelessness in Central and Eastern Europe: making the shift to a housing led system in Hungary
Introduction:
World Habitat believes that housing is a fundamental human right and that housing-led approaches offer a lasting solution to homelessness. Housing-led approaches focus on getting people experiencing, or at risk of homelessness, into a secure home as soon as possible and minimizing the amount of time spent in temporary or emergency accommodation.
This policy briefing is part of a research project completed by the Metropolitan Research Institute and the Budapest Institute for Policy Analysis. The main report considers the barriers, challenges and opportunities for countries in Central and Eastern Europe to move to a housing-led approach as a means of ending homelessness. This work has been commissioned by World Habitat.
Levels of homelessness:
The yearly point-in-time nationwide homeless count coordinated by the Shelter Foundation generally finds around 7,000-10,000 people in contact with emergency shelters, temporary homes and street outreach services, out of whom about 3,000 are contacted while sleeping rough. People sleeping rough are mostly male, roughly a quarter are affected by mental health problems; around half have serious ill health; half do not have any regular income; and every fifth person experiencing homelessness has at least one addiction. The definition of homelessness also includes a larger group: those without a formally registered address, estimated to be 24,500 persons and over 80,000 people who only have a ‘temporary or mailing address’.
Gaps in the homelessness sector:
The criminalization of homelessness after 2010 enabled authorities to fine people experiencing homelessness for residing or sleeping in public spaces and detain them if rough sleeping is repeated or they cannot pay a fine. The regulation has negatively affected public discourse around homelessness and social inclusion, and diverted focus on the causes of homelessness away from structural factors, towards personal responsibility.
Housing system gaps:
Similarly to other post-socialist countries, Hungary implemented a housing privatization programme in the early 1990s that radically changed the tenure structure. As a result, the municipal housing sector now accounts for less than 2% of all building stock, with another 2% represented by below-market price rentals. Outright ownership and ownership with mortgage comprise the overwhelming majority of the tenure arrangements in the housing system. Since the transition, no major state-funded programme has been deployed to increase the social or affordable housing sector; state housing policies keep supporting the owner-occupied sector, mainly the more affluent middle class. In the very small subsidized rental sector, revenues from rent typically do not cover costs.
Conditions for upscaling housing-led approaches in Hungary:
Some core conditions and components are present in Hungary that are needed for the successful implementation of housing-led approaches to tackling homelessness. Most importantly, several service providers have longer-term experience with housing-led projects. As a result, momentum towards a shift in the mindset of service providers and social workers has already been created.
Local initiatives showcase easy-to-remove barriers. Feasible steps include advocacy for more municipal flats, especially if funds are provided for their renovation and more systematic cooperation with municipalities that could allocate a proportion of their flats to their clients. The training of social workers to adopt new skills could increase the efficiency of social work with people with multiple diagnoses and/or high support needs.
Conclusion:
Key structural challenges need to be addressed at the national level to create sustainable initiatives – for example, tackling the shortage and poor quality of affordable homes, addressing tenure insecurity, combatting barriers to integrated support services and prevention, and addressing discrimination.
Municipalities need to invest more into affordable public housing, and a national housing benefit scheme should be reintroduced. More buffers and guarantees are needed to bridge critical periods and prevent repeated housing loss. Given the complexity of needs, more systemic pathways of care and follow-up need to be created. Addressing discrimination against families with a Roma ethnic background in various realms of life would also contribute to the prevention of family homelessness.
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