WORKSHOP DESCRIPTIONS

Room: Platform 3

Network Psychiatry and Housing First. How do they relate to each other? In
this presentation, Niels Mulder will show how collaboration and looking beyond
the boundaries of your own organisation can help alleviate the housing
shortage, homelessness and loneliness. When Niels enters a room, his
presence is felt. His presentations are no different. He combines humanity with
big-picture thinking, building networks for a world that works for everyone. The
session opens with a discussion between Niels Mulder (psychiatrist, Erasmus
MC) and Jessica Wesselius (Chair, HVO-Querido), who pose each other central
questions on the workshop’s core theme: why network-based care, and why
now? From there, an expert panel joins the conversation, each speaking briefly
from their own vantage point on their relationship to Housing First — including
a team leader from Rotterdam’s Urban Homeless Team, a personal support
worker, a social housing manager, and people with lived experience.
The final part of the session opens the floor: a series of propositions where we
invite the audience to respond and interact with ideas around network-based
care.

Speakers:

Prof. Dr. Niels Mulder, Emeritus professor, Several advisory boards, The
Netherlands
Jessica Wesselius, Chair of the Board at HVO-Querido, Psychiatrist, HVOQuerido, The Netherlands
Chair: Frits Bovenberg, Programmedirector & Advisor, Frits&Gijs , The
Netherlands

Room: Cinema

Housing First has been part of Amsterdam’s approach to homelessness for 20
years. But every movement has a beginning, and in Amsterdam, it started with
people who passionately believed that Housing First could work.In this interactive session, we travel through the Housing First timeline in
Amsterdam, from its early beginnings to the present day, and explore how the
experience and inspiration of Housing First helped pave the way for Housing
Led approaches to be embraced in national policy.
A journey through time, principles and practice : presented by Rokus Loopik,
Martin Kok and Valerie Boogaard, with you as part of the conversation

Speakers:

Valerie Boogaard, Expertise Center, HVO Querido, The Netherlands
Martin Kok, Owner, M4Buro, The Netherlands
Rokus Loopik, Ambassador Housing First Netherlands, Bureau Rokus
Loopik, The Netherlands
Chair: Rokus Loopik, Ambassador Housing First Netherlands, Bureau Rokus
Loopik, The Netherlands

Room: The Forest

Young people leaving homelessness or navigating difficult transitions often
need more than one form of support. Personal relationships, peer networks
and professional services can all play an important role. But how can these
different forms of support come together around the young person?
In this workshop, Rotterdamse Douwers will share their local approach to
building supportive networks around young people, including insights from
young people who have been part of the programme. The workshop will then
look at the role of the formal care network and how different actors can work
together more effectively. A short panel at the end will bring in international
perspectives and experiences from other contexts.
The workshop will be interactive and focused on sharing practice, with
participants invited to reflect on how broader and better-connected support
networks can be built around young people.

Speakers:

Wim van Losser, Founder, Rotterdamse Douwser, the Netherlands
Kate Polson, Chief Executive, Rock Trust, Scotland
Caroline Aïdan, Specialist in Adapted Rental Management, Un Chez-Soi
d’Abord- Métropole de Lyon, France
Chair: René Meijborg, Project 010 Manager, City of Rotterdam, The
Netherlands
Rachel Hughes, Co-Founder, Rotterdamse Douwers, The Netherlands

Room: Disco

How can organisations take on a greater role in providing housing for Housing
First? Inspired by the Y-Foundation’s model in Finland, Crisis is developing its
own approach to becoming a social landlord.
This session will bring together perspectives from the Y-Foundation and Crisis
to share experiences and reflect on the opportunities and challenges of
developing this type of model.

Speakers:

Saija Turunen, Head of Research, Y Foundation, Finland
Francesca Albanese, Executive Director of Policy & Social Change, Crisis, UK

Chair: Emma Byrne, Policy Manager, Focus Ireland, Ireland

Room: Platform 1

This workshop will explore opportunities for European investment in housing
solutions that address homelessness, with a particular focus on Housing First.
It will include a conversation with the Chair of the Affordable Housing Task
Force, on the European Affordable Housing Plan and the opportunities it may
create for Housing First.
The discussion will also look at what these opportunities could mean at
national and local level, and how European investment can help support the
development and scaling of Housing First approaches across Europe.

Speakers:

Matthew Baldwin, Head of Commission Task Force on Housing &
Deputy Director-General in Energy Department of the European
Commission, European Commission
Emilia Postolache, European Affairs Officer, Council of Europe Development
Bank
Ruth Owen, Deputy Director, FEANTSA

Chair: Mike Allen, Director of Advocacy, Communication and Research,
Focus Ireland, Ireland

Room: Now

How can cities and national governments work together to create the conditions
for Housing First to develop and scale?
Housing First implementation depends on action at different levels of government,
but strong connections between national policy and local practice are not always
easy to build. This roundtable will explore examples of constructive relationships
between cities and national governments, and the ways in which different levels of
government can work together to support sustainable Housing First and housingled approaches.
Drawing on experiences from Denmark, Budapest, York and Helsinki, speakers will
reflect on how responsibilities, priorities and approaches can be aligned across
different levels of government. The discussion will consider what makes these
relationships work, how local innovation can influence national policy, and how
national frameworks can support cities to develop effective housing-led
responses.
The session will be structured as an interactive roundtable, with speakers
responding to key questions and sharing reflections on the opportunities and
challenges of building stronger bridges between local and national government

Speakers:

Bálint Misetics, Senior Advisor to the Mayor on Housing and Social Policy, Municipality of Budapest, Hungary

Nicholas Pleace, Professor of Housing and Society, University of York (and European Observatory on Homelessness, FEANTSA), UK

Karin Egholm, Leader in the division working with vulnerable adults, Danish Authority of Social Services and Housing, Denmark

Paula Pönkänen, Project Manager, Ending Long-term Homelessness in Helsinki, City of Helsinki, Finland

Veronique Vancoppenolle, Policy officer for homeless policy, City of Ghent, Belgium

Chair: Samara Jones, Lead, Housing First Europe Hub

Room: The Kiss

Spotlight on the Netherlands: A Systems Change Approach to Housing First
Housing First cannot be scaled through individual programmes alone. It requires
wider systems change, including access to affordable housing, integrated support,
sustainable funding and strong collaboration between municipalities, housing
providers, health and social services, and people with lived experience.
This workshop will examine how the Netherlands is working to move from separate
Housing First initiatives towards a more coordinated, systemic approach to preventing
and ending homelessness. Speakers will share practical experiences from the Dutch
context, highlighting progress made, challenges encountered and lessons learned in
developing partnerships and changing established policies and ways of working. With
a foundation of how Housing First has transformed the Dutch context, we’ll then
explore where new possibilities for expanding Housing First can be learned from
abroad for local application in the Netherlands.
The discussion will explore:

• What does a systems change approach to Housing First mean in the Dutch
  context?
• How are municipalities, housing providers, services and other partners working
  together?
• What structural barriers make it difficult to scale and sustain Housing First?
• How can Housing First contribute to the prevention of homelessness?
• Which lessons from the Netherlands may be relevant to other European contexts?
• What lessons from other European contexts may be relevant to the Netherlands?
• What action is needed now, and what should systems change in Housing First look
  like five years from now?

Speakers:

Jodi Sturge, Assistant Professor, Interaction Design, University of Twente, The
Netherlands
Marit Lüschen, Action Researcher, Heilige Huisjes, The Netherlands
Chair: Danielle Dulski, Project Assistant – International Events, City of
Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Room: Basement

This workshop will answer the question what it takes to make Housing First
work well for women, and what partnerships are needed to make that
possible?
Drawing on practical experience from Housing First for Women Berlin and the
INTERACT project’s gendered and intersectional perspective, this workshop
will explore how Housing First can work effectively with services such as child
protection, healthcare and specialist violence services.
Through an interactive exercise, participants will explore partnership
challenges in their own context and share promising approaches.

Speakers:

Esther Köb, Communications, Fundraising & Real Estate Acquisition,
Housing First for Women Berlin, Germany
Kristín I. Pálsdóttir, Specialist and INTERACT Project Manager at The Root,
The Root NGO (Ice. Rótin), Iceland
Kristín Hjálmarsdóttir, Specialist and INTERACT Project Manager at RIKK,
RIKK – Institute for Gender, Equality and Difference, University of Iceland,
Iceland
Chair: Dalma Fabian, Policy Officer, FEANTSA

Room: Platform 3

Jochen van den Steen is the director of the Sleidingen psychiatric centre in
Ghent and Care Representative for Supportive Relational Care in Europe. In his
workshop, Jochen compares SRH and Housing First: why one cannot exist
without the other, and why self-determination and personal agency are so
important in both approaches. SRH does not operate on a ‘reward model’ when
it comes to trust and progress. People do not have to compete to receive
services. In addition, lived experience is an important pillar of SRH. What can
Housing First learn from this?

Speakers:

Jochen van den Steen, General Manager, Ghent Psychiatric Centre, Belgium
Chair: Frits Bovenberg, Programmedirector & Advisor, Frits&Gijs , The
Netherlands

Room: Cinema

Housing First in the Netherlands: Past, Present, and Future. What can we learn
from the journey Housing First has taken in the Netherlands, and where is it
headed?
In this session, Rokus Loopik, Melanie Schmit and Anke Jansen will take you
through the development of Housing First in the Netherlands. We will travel
from the very first pioneering steps, through its growth in recent years, to the
current movement toward Wonen Eerst (Housing First at a systemic level).
What key lessons have we learned along the way? And what is needed to make
Housing First work effectively, from the big picture down to daily practice? An
inspiring session for current and future leaders and pioneers who want to learn
from the experiences of the Lowlands to build the future of Housing First
together.

Speakers:

Rokus Loopik, Ambassador Housing First Netherlands, Bureau Rokus
Loopik, The Netherlands
Melanie Schmit, Founder, Housing First Netherlands, Housing First
Netherlands, The Netherlands
Anke Jansen, Founder, Housing First Netherlands, The Netherlands
Chair: Rokus Loopik, Ambassador Housing First Netherlands, Bureau Rokus
Loopik, The Netherlands

Room: The Forest

Leaving youth care can be a critical moment in a young person’s life, and
without the right support, can increase the risk of homelessness. How can we
make this transition a process rather than a single point at which support
ends? What can we learn from approaches that extend care and provide young
people with continued support as they move towards independent living?
This workshop will combine short presentations, a fireside chat, a panel
discussion and group work. Participants will have the opportunity to hear from
different perspectives, share experiences and work together on approaches to
making the transition out of care safer and more sustainable for young people

Speakers:

Bronwen Cannon, Team Leader, Focus Ireland, Ireland & Peter (young
person with their support worker)
Matt Bawden, Director of Progression Housing, Centrepoint, UK
Connel Mc Kenna, Senior Operational Lead, Simon Community Northern
Ireland, Northern Ireland
Chair: Lisa O’Brien, Head of Youth Housing Support Services, Ireland

Room: Disco

The workshop will explore current practices in using social housing to provide

stable long-term tenancies for people experiencing homelessness, and more
specifically for Housing First programmes. It will unpack the development of
such policies in Brussels, Bratislava and Poland, while looking at both
achievements and obstacles in their implementation

Speakers:

Katerina Miklei, Project Manager, Department of Affordable Housing and Homelessness Services, Bratislava City Hall, Slovakia

Fanny Vancauwelaert, Housing Advisor, Bruss’Help, Belgium

Anna Gazda, Board Member, Polish Housing First Association, Poland

Chair: Ioana Vlad, Housing Policy Officer, FEANTSA

Room: Platform 1

How can Housing First organisations and public authorities find and make use
of available funding opportunities? This session will provide an overview of EU
and other funding programmes that can support Housing First and related
initiatives.
Participants will get the chance to get an overview about different funding
opportunities, what types of activities and organisations they can support, and
what to consider when developing a funding application. The session will also
offer space to share experiences and practical tips on accessing funding for
Housing First at European, national and local level

Speakers:

Freek Spinnewijn, Director, FEANTSA

Chair: Maria Karra, Co-Founder, Emfasis Non-Profit, Greece

Room: Now

This spotlight session will explore Scotland’s experience of developing and
embedding Housing First, with a particular focus on its long-term collaboration
with local authorities and the wider housing system. Speakers from Turning
Point Scotland and Fife Council will reflect on key developments, including the
shift towards prevention, the right to housing, and access to social and other
forms of housing.
The session will consider how Housing First can contribute to wider systems
change, what has supported its sustainability over time, and what lessons
Scotland’s experience can offer to other countries and local contexts.

Speakers:

Nicky Miller, Head of Homelessness and Prevention, Turning Point Scotland,
Scotland
Jemma Guild, Lead Officer – Service Commissioning/Housing First, Fife
Council, Scotland
Chair: Raphaël Bouloudnine, Psychiatrist, National Coordinator Un chez soi
d’abord, DIHAL Interministerial Delegation for Housing and Access to
Housing, France

Room: The Kiss

The Cost-Effectiveness of Housing First: Evidence, Impact and Future Research
Evidence on cost-effectiveness can play an important role in strengthening the case
for Housing First and supporting its development and scaling. However, assessing
cost-effectiveness is complex. Costs and benefits are often distributed across
housing, health, social services and criminal justice systems, while many important
outcomes such as housing stability, wellbeing, autonomy and social inclusion cannot
be understood through financial savings alone. Sustaining Housing First also requires
long-term funding for operating and supportive services costs, which are often pieced
together from multiple sources and can be politically harder to justify and sustain.
This workshop will bring together researchers and practitioners to explore what
existing research tells us about the costs, benefits and wider value of Housing First.
Speakers will present findings and practical experiences from different contexts,
discuss methodological challenges and consider how cost-effectiveness evidence can
better inform policy, funding and implementation decisions.
The discussion will explore:

• What do we currently know about the cost-effectiveness of Housing First?
• Which costs, outcomes and wider benefits should be included in evaluations?
• How can data from different services and sectors be combined?
• How can findings be communicated effectively to policymakers and funders?
• Where are the most important gaps in the current evidence?
• What action is needed now, and what should cost-effectiveness research on
• Housing First look like five years from now?

Speakers:

Elisabetta Leni, Postdoctoral researcher, Y Foundation, Finland
Dr. Carolina K. Reid, Faculty Research Advisor, Terner Center for Housing
Innovation, University of California, Berkeley, United States

Chair: Saija Turunen, Head of Research, Y Foundation, Finland

Room: Basement

Housing First for Families is gaining attention in different parts of Europe, but
questions remaind about if we actually can make it work in practice. This
session will look into what approaches are already being developed, what can
we learn from each other, and how can we build the networks needed to move
this work forward.
This round table brings together speakers from the Netherlands, Ireland and
Slovakia to share experiences and discuss the opportunities and challenges of
developing Housing First for Families. The focus will be on learning from one
another and identifying ways to strengthen collaboration across countries.

Speakers:

Alena Vachnová, Chair of the Board of Directors / Strategy and Innovations,
Nadácia DEDO/Foundation DEDO, Slovakia
Manuel Nieto-Guerrero, Project Manager, Dublin, Sophia Housing, Ireland
Julianne Coleman, Project Manager, Cork, Sophia Housing, Ireland
Liesbeth van Duin, City of Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Francisca van der Laan, CVD, The Netherlands
Patrick Bek, Senior Researcher, Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences,
The Netherlands
Chair: Josje van Nes, Ombudsman Rotterdam Rijnmond, The Netherlands

Room: Platform 3

The Expertise Centre of HVO-Querido invites you on an interactive journey from
practice-based knowledge to an inspiring, strengths-based tool. What works
for one person doesn’t necessarily work for another — this calls for looking
again, thinking differently, and daring to experiment. Together, we’ll explore
how knowledge and experience from practice can be transformed into
something concrete, inspiring, and useful for both clients and professionals.

Speakers:

Axel Rueb, Project lead – International learning, HVO-Querido, The
Netherlands
Valerie Boogaard, Expertise Centre, HVO Querido, The Netherlands
Chair: Frits Bovenberg, Programmedirector & Advisor, The Netherlands

Room: Cinema

How do we move from hearing individual stories of homelessness to
recognising the patterns behind them — and building collective power for
change? Drawing on the work of Dakloosheid Voorbij! and lessons from
community organising, this session explores how lived experiences and signals
from practice can be turned into advocacy, policy change and public action. We
will look at what it takes to build genuine partnerships with people who
experience or have experienced homelessness, moving beyond symbolic
participation towards shared influence over strategy and decision-making.
The session will also be honest about the challenges: people facing
homelessness have urgent concerns beyond changing systems, while stigma,
shame and unequal power can make collective action harder. We will connect
these realities to the rapidly shifting Dutch political and policy landscape and
ask how movements can keep pushing for long-term change when political
priorities change. Above all, the session is about the potential of collective
action: how people, organisations and lived experience can come together to
make the right to a home impossible to ignore

Speakers:

Nil Şendil, Coordinator, Dakloosheid Voorbij! (The national coalition to end
homelessness), The Netherlands
Chair: Rokus Loopik, Ambassador Housing First Netherlands, Bureau Rokus
Loopik, The Netherlands

Room: The Forest

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Speakers:

Fiona Dunkin, Housing Policy Manager, Clúid Housing, Ireland
Jemma Guild, Lead Officer – Service Commissioning/Housing First, Fife
Council, Scotland
Mirthe Biemans, Director TUIS Nederland, Housing First Netherlands, The
Netherlands
Dorothée Jansen, Strategic Programme Management Lead, Portaal, The
Netherlands

Chair: Kate Polson, Chief Executive, Rock Trust, Scotland

Room: Disco

The workshop will discuss locally driven initiatives to mobilise the private
rental sector to house people experiencing homelessness. It will mainly focus
on rental intermediation programmes, but it will also explore other regulatory
measures that aim to bring

Speakers:

Emmanuel de Lutzel, Europe Manager, Habitat et Humanisme Federation, France

Laura Kovácsová, Director, Municipal Rental Agency Bratislava, Slovakia

Alejandra Puente García, Deputy Director, Housing-led Programme, HOGAR SÍ, Spain

Chair: Ben Rickey, Housing First Coordinator, Housing Department, City of Paris, France

Room: Platform 1

Practical insights into building effective collaboration between Housing First,
housing and health/mental health services,
A better understanding of what can enable or hinder stronger connections
between the housing and health sectors.

Speakers:

Prof. Michelle Cornes, Professor of Health and Social Policy Inequalities,
University of Salford & King’s College London, UK
Mickaël Puech, National Housing First France association coordinator,
France
Margot Kushel MD, Professor of Medicine; Director UCSF Benioff
Homelessness and Housing Initiative, University of California, San
Francisco, US
Sydney Costantini, PhD Candidate in Economics, University of California, US
Raphaël Bouloudnine, Psychiatrist, National Coordinator Un chez soi
d’abord, DIHAL Interministerial Delegation for Housing and Access to
Housing, France
Chair: Mike Allen, Director of Advocacy, Communication and Research,
Focus Ireland, Ireland

Room: Now

How can Housing First approaches contribute to preventing evictions and
sustaining housing at scale? This workshop will explore how Housing First
principles and practices are being integrated into wider national housing
policies and eviction prevention systems in Austria, Finland and the
Netherlands.
Through examples from Wohnschirm in Austria, housing advice and prevention
approaches in Finland, and Housing+ in the Netherlands, the workshop will
look at how different systems are responding to housing insecurity and what
can be learned from their approaches. Speakers will reflect on the role of
Housing First within broader prevention frameworks, the partnerships needed
to make these approaches effective, and how existing services and policies can
adapt to the current housing context.
The session will also open up a conversation between Housing First
practitioners and policy experts, exploring what needs to change to make
eviction prevention and housing advice more effective, while ensuring that
Housing First approaches remain centred on people’s right to housing and
long-term housing stability.

Speakers:

Elsa Wessely, Austrian Ministry of Social Affairs, Austria
Vlada Petrovskaja, Planning Officer, No Fixed Abode NGO, Finland
Catelijne Akkermans, Senior Researcher, Hogeschool Leiden, The
Netherlands

Chair: Emma Byrne, Policy Manager, Focus Ireland, Ireland

Room: The Kiss

Research has played an important role in demonstrating the effectiveness of Housing
First and shaping its development across Europe. However, the relationship between
research, policy and practice is not always straightforward: evidence does not
automatically lead to policy change, and the questions explored by researchers do not
always reflect the most pressing needs of practitioners, policymakers or people with
lived experience.
This roundtable will bring together researchers, practitioners and other experts to
reflect on how Housing First research has influenced policy and practice to date and to
identify priorities for the next phase of research. Speakers will share examples of
where research has contributed to concrete change, consider the barriers that can
prevent evidence from being used, and discuss how stronger collaboration across
sectors can make research more relevant, accessible and influential.
The discussion will explore:

• How has research influenced Housing First policy, implementation and
  development so far?
• Where has evidence successfully contributed to change, and what made this
  possible?
• What important gaps remain in the Housing First research base?
• How can researchers, practitioners, policymakers and people with lived
  experience work together more effectively?
• What research and action are needed now, and what should the relationship
  between research and Housing First systems look like five years from now?

The session will encourage an open exchange between speakers and participants,
with the aim of identifying shared research priorities and practical ways to
strengthen the impact of evidence on future Housing First policy and practice

Speakers:

Nicholas Pleace, Professor of Housing and Society, University of York (and European Observatory on Homelessness, FEANTSA), UK

Lars Benjaminsen, Senior Researcher, VIVE – The Danish Center for Social Science Research, Denmark

Edmond Marquier, Research Analyst, Metropole de Lyon (and Université Grenoble-Alpes), France

Elisabetta Leni, Postdoctoral researcher, Y Foundation, Finland

Chair: Francesca Albanese, Executive Director of Policy & Social Change, Crisis, UK

Room: Basement

Can we prevent homelessness before it happens? This session will introduce
the concept of upstream prevention and showcase emerging practice from the
Netherlands and Belgium. Looking into practice and research from the
Netherlands and Belgium, participants will hear how upstream approaches are
being developed in practice, including street-level advocacy and work with
schools. Through a short introduction, practical examples and a panel
discussion, participants will explore how upstream approaches can be
developed and what it takes to get them started.

Speakers:

Evelien Demaerschalk, Researcher Homelessness and Poverty, LUCAS (KU
Leuven), Belgium
Pleun Usman, Youth Advocate, Straat Consulaat, The Netherlands
Sandra Schel, Researcher, Hogeschool Utrecht, the Netherlands
Marlies Filbri, CEO, Straat Consulaat, the Netherlands
Chair: Josje van Nes, Ombudsman, Rotterdam-Rijnmond (ORR), The
Netherlands