Housing First is an approach to ending homelessness. Its key features include
- Personal outreach to people who are homeless, with the specific purpose of encouraging them to accept assistance to move to permanent housing
- Practical assistance to people who accept service
- Rapid access to permanent housing
- Transitional support after move in
- Assistance to access supports for post move in issues
Why talk about a homelessness program in a blog about affordable housing?
The success of Housing First is contingent upon a supply of affordable rental housing.
Why is Housing First popular?
Housing First has been adopted quite quickly at a local level. This is somewhat surprising as homelessness plans and programs are supposed to be locally determined. Thanks to the internet, communities can find out what is working without even picking up the phone.
There are numerous studies that document the effectiveness of Housing First. Some studies look at a program at one site. Pathways to Housing is a Housing First program in New York City, and the subject of several studies beginning in the 1990’s.
There are other studies that compare program implementation at multiple sites. The Collaborative Initiative to End Chronic Homelessness conducted a multiple site study in the United States. In Canada, the Mental Health Commission of Canada funded the At Home/Chez Soi project, a Housing First study in five cities. The European collaborative on homelessness, Feantsa, has studied Housing First approaches in multiple European cities1.
In addition to the experience of other communities reported in research findings, there are incentives for local communities to implement Housing First. The popularity of Housing First has encouraged national governments to make funding for homelessness programs conditional on including a Housing First approach. In Canada, the federal government has specified the majority of its funding for homelessness services must be devoted to Housing First. Some provincial governments have followed the lead of the federal government. Local communities interested in accessing funds from other levels of government need to get on board even to be considered.
What can people who participate in Housing First expect?
The program is intended to be efficient by basing services on the issues of individual clients. If something is available but not needed, it isn’t part of the support to that individual.
There are good results for individuals who are chronically homeless who have lived with mental illness and/or addiction issues2. In the available reports, the large majority of clients continue to be housed one year after moving in.
People in Housing First programs report increased personal safety, improvements in their health, and reconnections with family members.
What can communities offering Housing First expect?
Some public services (e.g. hospital emergency rooms and correctional facilities) are not intended to assist people who are homeless. People participating in Housing First programs tend to use these services less. Conversely, people who are Housing First clients increase in their use of “appropriate” public services, such as treatment for chronic health conditions, education, and training and employment programs.
What are the limits of Housing First?
Housing First is not a universal solution to homelessness. For example, Housing First is not the way to help households avoid becoming homeless, nor is it intended to be. It is an emergency response and seems to work very well with individuals who are chronically homeless in urban areas where there is a healthy supply of rental housing.
Footnotes
- See Housing First, where is the Evidence, published in 2012 for an assessment of the evidence available at the time.
- Chronically homeless refers to people who have been homeless for at least a year.
