Subject: Change Management

Marlene is a project manager and team leader at neunerhaus Housing First in Vienna and a lecturer for Housing First at the Vienna University of Applied Sciences. Marlene previously worked as a social worker with young refugees and in the education sector.

Margherita has been working for 10 years in services aimed at homeless people within third sector organizations. She has always been passionate about the issue of the right to housing and for this reason she has coordinated and worked in the Housing First program managed by the Piazza Grande Social Cooperative. In the Cooperative she has covered various roles of coordination of socio-educational projects and is currently vice president. Margherita collaborates with Fio.PSD in the context of sector specific operators training, the training focusing especially on Housing First projects, social and health integration, and community work.

After completing compulsory school and an apprenticeship in the metal industry, I studied "social work/social management" at the Vienna University of Applied Sciences on the second educational path. I was able to gain my first practical experience in helping the homeless during my studies in the context of "assisted living" in an internship. After completing my studies in 2011, I stayed in the field of helping the homeless and worked in the areas of "consulting" and "street work" for a little over two years, where I gained my first experience. After a one-year stay abroad, I then switched to the area of "partially assisted living/outpatient assisted living" in the same field of work, in which I have been working since 2014. I completed the Housing First Europe Hub's TTT - Train The Trainer - training in 2022.

Mia is Coordinator for the National Housing First Development Network in Finland. She is passionate about eradicating homelessness and developing new ways of approaching housing-related issues. Mia has a backround in youth housing, social services & child protection services and is also experience in networking, providing training and a platform for learning about Housing First and housing related social work.

I am working at the advocacy level on Housing First in France. In my work for Fondation Abbé Pierre, which is known for its expertise in the evaluation of public policy, I have conducted an evaluation of the national Housing First programme.  

I am a therapist, psychologist, sexual educator and mediator. I worked as a frontline support worker and than also as the head of the team implementing Housing First in Warsaw (by Fundacja Fundusz Współpracy) – from the very beginning of the project to almost the end (3 years). On one hand I provided support on a daily basis and in crisis situations for tenants and on the other hand I organised work of the team, stayed in touch with the city and other organisations. We worked in Assertive Community Treatment approach. I’m a psychotraumatologist and I also provide support in a field of sexual education and leadership in family based on Jesper Juul values (as a Familylab trainer). I’m honest, calm and authentical, positive and attentive (careful/observant) for others. I speak my mind. My core is nonviolent communication, personal responsibility and respect for the integrity of the individual.

"For me, Housing First is about dignity. By offering people back a home that is really theirs, you give them so much more: freedom and autonomy, life chances, future, happiness"

Melanie Schmit's entire working life has been about people in need, among which the biggest part has been in the field of homelessness. She studied social work, then completed a bachelor's degree  in health care management and a study around professional coaching and leadership. Currently she is focusing on education around public affairs. Melanie started out as a social worker in a homelessness service and after that was a manager for several years, mainly managing and implementing Housing First practices for adults as well as youth. Today, Melanie works for LIMOR on scaling up, further developing, and promoting Housing First in the Northern and Western part of The Netherlands. In that capacity she is also training groups on Housing First inside and outside the organisation. Furthermore Melanie is president of the national platform, Housing First Netherlands. She was a co-initiator and co-founder of this network organization that acts as a collective representative for Housing First practices in the Netherlands and Housing First in general.

Juha has been working for 10 years in the field of homelessness. He started as a frontline support worker in 2010 for the Finnish Youth housing association services (NALPA). NALPA offers housing first in scattered housing for young people experiencing homelessness. After 3,5 years Juha became the Service manager and his responsibility was to develop the services and manage the Housing First team. After 1,5 years of being the service manager Juha became the CEO of the whole company. Juha had the privilege of developing and growing the company to a widespread presence across Finland. Following NALPA, Juha started work at the Y-Foundation. He worked for a little over one year as a Coordinator for the  National Housing First Development Network. At the beginning of 2020, he became the Lead Coordinator of the same Network. As part of his role at the Network, Juha organises training courses at national level, and is working on developing the Housing First model together with dozens of NGO's and cities.

Peter started to work in youth and young adult care in the nineties, being focused on youth at risk of becoming homeless or young adults being homeless. At the time some of his older colleagues advised him to lower his expectations as to what could be achieved. He continued working, and 10 years later, caught himself being that older colleague telling the younger ones to 'not put their hopes up too high'. After he discovered the Housing First approach, he learnt that his initial hopes of achieving positive outcomes for homeless youth could be realised, and became a Housing First trainer.