Will the Housing First program put an end to homelessness?

The report on the Housing First program — " The first thing is housing" — was presented on March 28-29 this year in Madrid at the international conference The End of Homelessness, dedicated to the problem of homelessness. The conference was organized by Hogar Sí, a Spanish organization fighting homelessness in the country.

"The Housing First program is one of the most studied interventions in social policy and the most effective mechanism to help people with complex support needs get rid of homelessness," is the main conclusion of the report.

However, a study by Housing First Europe Hub commissioned by Demos Helsinki noted that despite the growth of Housing First programs in Europe, the total number of homeless people continues to grow in many countries.

Housing First in Spain

In Spain, major cities, such as Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, and Majorca, use the Housing First program. If the first pilot program, launched in 2014, included several dozen houses, in early 2021, their number has reached 500, and four months ago — 950. According to this program, after 18 months, the retention rate in these homes is 96%.

However, although 12 state administrations have committed themselves to working on this model, the report stresses that its distribution is "still too dispersed" because it depends on the commitments of "a very limited number of key participants compared to the vast size of the country."

We can apprehend homelessness

The homelessness situation in Europe worsened during the pandemic. The last two years "have shown the danger of short-term measures that work only with the worst forms of homelessness," the Demos Helsinki report emphasizes.

Therefore, the solution to the problem lies in working with homelessness "using the principles of Housing First, as this model can end homelessness by providing housing and support." To do this, it is necessary to realize that "simply offering the Housing First program as a separate program for a select group of people is not enough.“ We need more support from state administrations and more funding.