Archives: Trainers

I am a researcher, consultant and learning facilitator in housing and environmental fields. I was the researcher-evaluator of the Housing First pilot project in Latvia and have led several multi-stakeholder design workshops on Housing First and social worker trainings. In the Hub, I was part of the TTT Cohort 5. While primarily a researcher, I have a rich experience in leading formal and informal, face-to-face and online workshops and trainings spanning from policy to skills development. I draw my content and methods from rigorous policy and academic literature analysis, critical pedagogy, embodied learning, and design anthropology.

For the last thirty years or so, Nicolas has been working more specifically on issues of local social development and housing policies. His research focuses on the emergence of fundamental rights in social work practices. He has spent a large part of his career in the field of social policy on accommodation and housing. Today, he is involved in rolling out the Housing First model in France and piloting the Metropole of Lyon's Housing First policy.

I’m a lawyer who’s always wanted to use my legal background to serve the social sector and combat poverty. After gaining experience both in academia and in the NGO sector, I joined the Belgian Federal Administration for Social Integration as a Housing First coordinator. I'm thrilled to be part of this Train the Trainer programme and to be able to promote the Housing First model. I'm also eager to engage with a diverse European network, which I believe will enrich our collective efforts in ending homelessness.

With 20 years of experience working with the homeless, the last ten of which were in Housing First, I focus my training on changing the way people think about homelessness and the work around it. I also have extensive experience in leading the daily work within a Housing First organisation. My focus in my work is on seeing the healthy in people and conveying hope that change is possible.

Coordination & Communications assistant

Miranda joined the Housing First Europe Hub in September 2024. Within the Hub, she contributes to the smooth running of the Community of Practice, to the organisation of online and in-person events and the strengthening of the partnership between Hub members and allies as assistant coordinator. She previously gained experience at the European Commission’s DG HOME funding directorate, at the Venice Immigration and Social Inclusion office, and in local NGOs dealing with homelessness and migrants’ integration.

I am a sociologist and have worked with social work and homelessness for almost 20 years in various sectors. Now I work as a development manager at Stockholm City Mission. I went to cohort 4 and since then have trained in housing first for Sweden's city missions, mainly for municipalities in the start-up phase but also in other forms. Housing first because it works!

Maria has started working with clients. Substance abuse, mental health, social problems and homelessness are familiar themes to her from that time. She has also designed services for these client groups and acted as Programme Manager for the Helsinki region of the programme to reduce long-term homelessness. Currently, Maria works at the Y-Foundation, where she has been for the last eleven years in various positions. She is currently working in the Housing First Network Developers and her tasks include the dissemination and mainstreaming of Housing First work, for example through trainings.

Julia's engagement in homelessness began with research for the Municipality of Warsaw during her Sociology studies at the University of Warsaw before becoming an independent researcher for the European Observatory on Homelessness (FEANTSA). In her later projects she concentrated on evaluating housing led programs through in-depth interviews with people experiencing homelessness. Since 2019 she’s a leader of Housing First Poland Foundation. Currently she provides fidelity consultation for the teams that want to develop their programs towards HF principles. Last but not least she is a social integration therapist and motivational interviewing practitioner and with that background she works as a support worker for people experiencing homelessness in Warsaw.

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.

Partnership & Project Officer

Laura joined the Housing First Europe Hub as Partnership & Project Officer. In this role, she supports partnership engagement, coordinates key projects, and helps facilitate training and knowledge exchange across the network. She is passionate about Housing First and committed to advancing solutions to end homelessness in Europe.