Save the Date! 28-30 October – Housing First Europe 2026
About the Conference
The third Housing First Europe conference 28-30 October 2026 will bring together experts and advocates for Housing First. Co-hosted with the City of Rotterdam this conference is an opportunity for policymakers, practitioners, and municipal leaders to connect, collaborate, and work together to make real policy and practice changes to end and prevent homelessness.
Why Rotterdam? Why Now?
As homelessness continues to be a challenge across Europe, cities in particular, bear the brunt of a failure of existing policies. The Housing First approach, however, has proven that providing stable housing, first,—combined with wraparound support—can break cycles of homelessness and transform lives. The next frontier is prevention: stopping homelessness before it starts. This requires building bridges—between sectors, between services, and between people.
This conference will be an active, working session for actors from all relevant sectors – Housing First workers and managers, policymakers, researchers, housing providers, professionals from health, mental health, and social care, as well as youth – all united. Through dynamic plenary panels and hands-on workshops, participants will:
- Bridge Sectors: discuss and exchange about the necessity of cross-sector partnerships between health, housing, social care, and youth services to prevent homelessness and create sustainable Housing First solutions to homelessness
- Bridge Systems: share and learn from the successes and challenges of municipalities implementing the Housing First approach
- Bridge Communities: Connect frontline experience with policy and research
- Bridge Response and Prevention: using the Housing First approach, we will build strategies that link immediate housing solutions with long-term homelessness prevention
This conference invites all actors within Housing First to join: mayors looking to transform their city’s approach to homelessness, housing providers seeking to scale their impact, health, mental health and social care professionals bridging care gaps, and policy experts shaping national, regional or local strategy—this conference offers opportunity to: build connections, learn from experience on the ground, and work together for sustainable Housing First approaches to end and prevent homelessness.
Housing is a human right, not a reward. Join us in Rotterdam to build the bridges that turn this principle into practice across Europe.