Housing First - Provincie West-Vlaanderen

Housing FirstTable S.1 : Broad Types of Housing First ServicesService offeredPathwaysHousing FirstCommunalHousingFirstHousingFirst LightHousing with security of tenure in private rented sector or in socialhousing provided immediately or as soon as possibleYes No YesOffers communal housing (single rooms or apartments) with securityof tenure provided immediately in a building only lived in by homelesspeople using the serviceNo Yes NoHomeless people have to stop using drugs No No NoHomeless people have to stop drinking alcohol No No NoHomeless people have to use mental health services No No NoHarm reduction approach Yes Yes YesUses mobile teams to provide services Yes No YesDirectly provides drug and alcohol services Yes Yes NoDirectly provides psychiatric and medical services Yes Yes NoUses service brokerage Yes Yes YesProvides support to promote housing stability Yes No YesEvidence in favour of Housing FirstThe bulk of evidence about Housing First isAmerican. There is also some evidence from Europeand in particular from Finland. Large scale testingof the Housing First model is occurring across theEuropean Union and within France. For example,Housing First Europe 3 is a Social Experimentationproject funded in the framework of the PROGRESSprogramme of the European Commission. It willevaluate and provide mutual learning on 10 HousingFirst projects in European cities and deliverconclusions in 2013. France is implementing a majorsocial experimentation called “Un Chez-soi d’abord” 4to test the effectiveness of Housing First servicesfor homeless people with mental illness.There is very strong evidence from the USA thatPHF services provide stable housing for chronicallyhomeless people with very high support needs and along history of homelessness. There is more limitedevidence on CHF and HFL services that also showsuccess in providing stable housing for homelesspeople. There is some evidence that by promotinghousing stability and following a harm reductionapproach, Housing First services can stabilise andin some cases reduce mental health problems andproblematic use of drugs and alcohol.PHF has shown far more success in providinghousing stability for ‘chronically homeless’ peoplethan ‘staircase services’. Staircase services requirehomeless people to move through a series of ‘steps’before they are given access to housing. They oftenrequire abstinence from alcohol and drugs. There isstrong evidence that the ‘staircase’ approach fails toprovide stable housing for the majority of chronicallyhomeless people who use staircase services.3 http://www.servicestyrelsen.dk/housingfirsteurope4 http://www.developpement-durable.gouv.fr/Programme-Chez-Soi-d-abord.html5