« 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 plan specified: 1) a target of 1200 occupancies, which was later increased to 1319 (but not limited to that number), to be established over five years, 2) a new National Homeless Action Committee, and 3) personalised, Integrated Healthcare (Department of Housing, Local Government, and Heritage, 2021). This evaluation report describes the findings from the National HF Implementation Evaluation (NHFIE), a two-year, nationwide assessment of HF programmes in all nine HF regions. The evaluation assessed the effectiveness of interagency coordination of homeless NGOs with local authorities and the HSE to deliver housing and supports to individuals with substantial histories of homelessness who also have complex support needs.

The findings in this report represent a point in time during the initialisation of new HF programmes across the country. They provide insight into the opportunities, challenges, and achievements of stakeholders who innovated HF programmes in urban, suburban, and rural areas. Although the approach taken varied depending on the local context, all programmes were responsible for delivering housing and supports to the target population. Tenancy targets were set with reference to homeless administration regions. Across the nine regions, HF programmes exceeded the tenancy target for the pilot timeframe by 14%. Housing retention rates for this pilot match or exceed internationally reported rates from North America and other countries in the European Union. Overall, this evaluation found robust evidence that without exception, HF programmes across Ireland are housing members of the target population, keeping them housed, and supporting them on their journeys to recovery and well-being.  » – Extract, Executive Summary