Housing First - Provincie West-Vlaanderen

❱❱Support is provided on site, with the staffdelivering the support being based within thebuilding (or nearby if more than one buildingis used). The range of support on offer variesbetween services. Some mirror the extensiveservice provision of PHF services, includingmental health and drug and alcohol services,other CHF services might have less extensivesupport services and make more use of servicebrokerage (arranging access to externallyprovided services).❱❱Housing is either long-term or permanent; thereis no pressure or expectation on service usersto move out of the CHF service, though thosewishing to move on may be supported to do so.❱❱Service users have choices over whether or notto use support services and have a role in settingtheir own goals.❱❱CHF service users have the option to continuedrinking and using drugs, they can also refuseto work with psychiatric services, and this doesnot impact on their right to stay, i.e. people canstay in the housing provided by the service andcontinue to drink and use drugs, or chose not toengage with mental health services.❱❱CHF services follow a harm reduction andrecovery orientation model.CHF PhilosophyCHF services do not always operate in the same wayas one another. This makes a detailed discussion ofCHF philosophy difficult, because CHF services arenot consistent. However, it is possible to comparethe basic CHF philosophy with the PHF philosophy:❱❱Housing as a basic human right. Those CHFservices that offer a single room or a semiprivatespace in a shared environment couldbe said to provide accommodation but are notproviding housing. In the case of CHF servicesthat offer self-contained studio apartments withsecure tenures it could be argued that ‘housing’ isbeing provided. Not everyone would necessarilyshare that view because concentrating formerlyhomeless people in one place may segregatethem and limit their social integration 73 .❱❱Respect, warmth and compassion for all clients(service users).A CHF service does adopt a nonjudgementalattitude, with staff treating chronicallyhomeless people as individuals worthy of respect,warmth and compassion.❱❱A commitment to working with clients as longas they need. A CHF service does make an openended commitment to working with homelesspeople for as long as they might need the service.Some CHF services will encourage and supportpeople to move on, but they are designed to offerpermanent accommodation.❱❱Scattered site housing, independentapartments. A studio apartment in a CHFaccommodation block does give someone theirown front door, but it is a front door within ablock in which the staff support team and otherservice users are the only neighbours. Thesingle rooms and the ‘semi-private’ living spacesoffered in some CHF schemes cannot offerthe privacy or independence of an apartment.Chronically homeless people using CHF servicesare also physically isolated from other citizens,rather than living among them in the way thatPHF service users do. CHF therefore does notoffer scattered site housing and independentapartments.❱❱Separation of housing and services. PHFseparates housing and services because itgives chronically homeless people ‘housing first’without expecting them to accept drug, alcoholand mental health services. A CHF service doesnot expect homeless people to be ‘housing ready’.CHF services will not force service-users to2473 Tsemberis, S. (2011) op cit.