The UK may still be trapped in Brexit hell but it is still a key part of a continent-wide bid to tackle homelessness.
World Habitat’s European End Street Homelessness Campaign kicked off in 2015 to bring together organisations in cities across Europe so that they can work together to tackle homelessness more effectively.
A TALE OF 12 CITIES – today @WorldHabitat launches our first Impact Report for the European #EndStreetHomelessness, sharing the learning of 12 independent homelessness campaigns focusing on community involvement, improving data and #HousingFirst… THREAD/ pic.twitter.com/7MKvRa6ykf
— Patrick Duce (@PatrickDuce) June 24, 2019
Since then, the group’s impact report, released Tuesday, has revealed that almost 350 people have moved from the street into permanent accommodation across 12 cities.
Housing First (HF) remains central to the campaign, which was inspired by the use of Housing First in the USA and Finland, with 163 independent units found so far.
That includes 95 HF units in Barcelona enabling more than 200 homeless people to receive support alongside a home while HF was also the blueprint for a service in Valencia and nationally across Spain where campaigners have worked with Pedro Sánchez to develop homelessness initiatives.