To summarize so far: homelessness is on the rise both in the US and Europe. Lack of affordable housing in the bigger cities is a major contributing factor. From Copenhagen to San Francisco, homeless demographics are pretty much the same: a large majority of homeless people are single individuals (mostly men) with mental health and/or substance abuse problems. See Part I of this series for more details.
Homeless advocates are coalescing around a "Housing First" approach to ending homelessness. The idea is to transition homeless people to permanent housing as soon as possible, ideally within a matter of weeks. Formerly homeless tenants would receive ongoing needs-based support, contributing a portion of their income to the cost of housing and services. Individuals with financial resources, such as wages or disability benefits, would pay rent on a sliding scale, deducted directly from their earnings or benefit. Support services would include help with benefit applications and referral to job programs.
Several European countries participated in a Housing First pilot program sponsored by the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Security (EUESS). According to the Housing First Europe - Final Report (2013), the program was based on eight principles:
- Housing is a basic human right
- Respect, warmth, and compassion for all clients
- Commitment to working with clients for as long as they need
- Scattered-site housing in independent apartments (avoid high concentrations of clients in same area)
- Separation of housing and services
- Consumer choice and self-determination (e.g., substance abuse treatment is optional)
- Recovery orientation (always assume recovery is possible)
- Harm reduction (clients can be open and honest about the use of drugs and alcohol without the fear of eviction)
The EUESS final report considered the pilot program a success and many European countries continue to use the Housing First approach. Of course, one HUGE problem is cost. Housing First needs be scaled up to make much of a dent in the homeless population, but housing and support services are expensive. Thus, it's no surprise that the homelessness numbers keep going up in Europe.
Plus there's the issue of incentives. Many homeless people eventually get back to independent and productive lives. The availability of subsidized housing may tempt some who would have left the streets on their own to settle for the secure (if cramped) comfort of a guaranteed roof over their heads. That is not optimal.
Next: dealing with cost and incentives.