The Housing First Europe Hub

The Housing First Europe Hub was established in 2016 by the Y-Foundation (Finland) and FEANTSA (the European Federation of National Organisations Working with Homeless People) along with more than 15 partners.  Since then, the Hub has grown to include more than 37 organisations, cities, government ministries, housing providers and researchers from across Europe and beyond.

We work in partnership with our core and associate partners to promote Housing First as the first and central response to homelessness.

Our Mission

The Hub’s mission is to end and prevent homelessness through a mindshift, leading to a systems’ change across Europe, based on Housing First through advocacy, training, practice, research, support and communication activities.

We contribute to this by:

Promoting understanding about and providing support to scaling up of Housing First
Scaling up is not about multiplying Housing First initiatives without aiming for systemic change. It requires moving from a programme/project approach to Housing First, in favour of a systems’ change whereby Housing First is the organising paradigm.

Providing support to:

    • Newcomers to Housing First, i.e. provision of information and evidence, access to training resources and materials (online tools on the Housing First Europe Hub’s website, organisation of training programmes by HF Europe Hub trainers, etc.), connection through the network to knowledge and colleagues (brokerage). Support to newcomers is always in view of a systems’ change perspective (and not e.g. support just with setting up isolated Housing First projects).
    • Existing Housing First policies/initiatives, i.e., support to the management, implementation and evaluation of Housing First.



How we work

The Housing First Europe Hub partners and associates work together with the Coordinator in a number of working groups:

    • Advocacy and Policy Development
      • Advocating for a Housing First approach at a systems level
      • Housing and Housing First
      • EU opportunities for Housing First

 

    • Capacity Building – support and innovation
      • with Housing First Managers in a Community of Practice
      • a network of national Housing First platforms/networks
      • Housing First for Youth – training, research, start-up resources

 

    • Knowledge Development
      • Mobilizing data and research on Housing First for organisations, housing providers, governments, researchers, etc.
      • Assessing research gaps on Housing First

 

Get in touch with the Housing First Coordinator (samara.jones@housingfirsteurope.eu) for more information on how to engage with this work.

Join the Hub

To join the Hub partnership, organisations should agree to commit to the core principles of Housing First, as set out in the Housing First Europe Guide, and to be engaged in or working towards scaling up Housing First in their community and across Europe.

Partners have access to all Hub services including:

  • All communication including the website and newsletter;
  • The option to include their logo on the Hub website;
  • The opportunity to co-produce tools with the Hub through participation in work clusters;
  • Access to Train-the-Trainer courses and other activities;
  • Invitation to all events, workshops etc., organised around the annual Steering Group meeting.

For questions, or to apply to become a partner of the Housing First Europe Hub, please feel free to reach out to our Programme Coordinator:

  • Samara Jones: samara.jones@housingfirsteurope.eu

Our Partnership

  • More courage is needed to upscale Housing First worldwide – Juha Kahila

    “International statistics on homelessness are grim. What is needed now is more courage to try different housing solutions and the ability to think outside the box.” – Juha Kahila…

    Check it out here

  • “Housing First – one or many?” by Juha Kaakinen

    Since 2008, the Housing First principle has been the cornerstone of Finnish strategy and policy to end homelessness. In Finland, Housing First is first and foremost a systemic model,…

    Check it out here
    Category: Blog| BlogHousing First

  • EVALUATION: National Housing First Implementation Evaluation Findings Prepared for the National Housing First Implementation Committee

    “Housing for All – A New Housing Plan for Ireland is the Government’s plan for addressing housing needs and homelessness through the year 2030. For people experiencing homelessness, the…

    Check it out here
    Category: | EvaluationResearch

  • EVALUATION: Housing First Scotland – Pathfinder

    Housing First Scotland’s Pathfinder programme, which ran from April 2019-March 2022, was independently evaluated by I-SPHERE in partnership with ICF this year. Some interesting findings from the evaluation include: Tenancy…

    Check it out here
    Category: | Evaluation

  • Learning from Youth with Lived Experience to Realize Homelessness Prevention in Schools: Learnings from Tio’tiá:ke/Montréal

    While schools can be a powerful site of homelessness prevention, they are also a potential site of harm for many young people, particularly youth with disabilities and mental health…

    Check it out here
    Category: Article| PreventionYouth homelessness

  • RESEARCH: Networking and housing advocacy in the homelessness sector: a path towards social sustainability? A study of the Housing First Europe Hub

    ABSTRACT “This paper investigates the potential of pro-Housing First advocacy conducted by international and inter-organisational homelessness coalitions to realise social sustainability ambitions in the homelessness sector. In particular, it…

    Check it out here
    Category: | Housing FirstResearch
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