Welcome to the Guide
The Guide is a resource about Housing First in Europe. It has been designed to explain what Housing First is and how it actually works in a range of European contexts. It sets out the core principles of Housing First and shows how these are implemented in different settings.
The Guide is the first European resource of its kind. As Housing First has taken off in Europe, a growing demand has emerged for knowledge and expertise. Until now, much of the available material has come from North America. There was a need for practical guidance bringing together existing knowledge and experience on doing Housing First in European contexts. That’s why we created this Guide. It complements similar manuals developed in the US (Tsemberis 2010) and Canada (Canadian Housing First Toolkit).
Who is the Guide for?
The Guide is for people who want to know more about what Housing First means and how it works in Europe. It aims to support practitioners and policy makers who are implementing, or interested in developing, Housing First. Users of the Guide will include managers and frontline staff of homeless services; people working in related sectors such as health and housing; national and local policy-makers; researchers; people with experience of homelessness and other stakeholders.
Who produced the Guide?
FEANTSA, the European Federation of National Organisations working with the Homeless, has coordinated the production of the Guide thanks to funding from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. An Advisory Board of experts from different disciplines and countries supported the creation of written and audio-visual materials. The Guide was discussed by additional experts in a range of focus groups involving practitioners and service users. Over a two year period, we reached out to a wide variety of stakeholders to provide input into the Guide.
1. What is Housing First?
In this unit, you will be introduced to the Housing First approach, its origins and its evolution in Europe. You will also learn about the evidence to show that Housing First works.
2. Core principles of Housing First
Core principles of Housing First presents a detailed description of the eight Core Principles of Housing First and how they work in practice in different contexts in Europe.
3. Delivering Support
Delivering Support in Housing First explores what kind of support is provided in Housing First and how this support is organized.
4. Delivering Housing
Unit 4 explores the different ways in which housing can be provided in Housing First services in Europe.
5. Evaluating Housing First
Housing First is an evidence-based intervention. This unit centres on how best to measure and report the achievements of Housing First services.
6. Housing First and Wider Strategy
Unit 6 looks at the roles of Housing First in wider strategies, including how Housing First can work alongside other homeless services.
Learn more
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…
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Announcing our new HF4Y Community of Practice!
The Housing First Europe Hub is trying to establish a Housing First for Youth Community of Practice! This would allow professionals and front line staff to have a space…
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Housing First for Youth housing pilot project leads to positive outcomes for young people facing homelessness in Scotland
Independent evaluation of the Rock Trust’s Housing First for Youth (HF4Y) pilot project in West Lothian finds that engagement with the project directly resulted in positive changes to…
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Housing First Guide videos
PODCAST: Youth Homelessness: How to survive the streets when you are under 25
In this episode of the Europe Talks Back podcast, host Juli Simond shares the inspiring journey of Mohammed Bouzghaia, a determined young individual who has confronted immense hardships in…
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WEBINAR: Housing First and the Criminal Justice System
Housing First participants often have co-occurring involvement with the criminal justice system, but the nature of the intersection between housing and criminal justice is not well understood. In this…
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PODCAST: Seeing Double on Youth Homelessness
In this episode of the On the Way Home podcast, Dr. Naomi Thulien and Mardi Daley discuss their presentation at CAEH’s National Conference on Ending Homelessness and the Transitioning…
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Using the EU Structural Funds to Finance Housing First – Roundtable Discussion
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PODCAST: ‘Housing First in Finland’
In this podcast, two Housing First giants, Juha Kaakinen, former CEO of the Y-Foundation and Peter Fredriksson, Senior Advisor, talk about the past, present and the future of the…
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An Introduction to Housing First (Dutch version)
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An Introduction to Housing First (Italian version)
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An Introduction to Housing First (Spanish version)
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An Introduction to Housing First (French version)
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