Homelessness in Europe: Added value of European Cooperation Contribution Freek Spinnewijn EBET Kongress 25/09/2018 - Köln

Homelessness : dire reality in EU Homelessness increasing in all EU Member States 4 million per year Rapid Also in countries with robust welfare systems Youth & families Impact flaws of migration policy Not captured by general anti-poverty trends Better captured by housing market trends Except Finland “Functional zero” Key to success: Housing First Simplification, pragmatism, stakeholder consensus

Increasingly strong evidence-base Production & availability of knowledge UP Homeless profiles Pathways in and out What (does not) work(s) Some interesting recent insights Not ”everybody” is vulnerable to homelessness (UK) Chronic pain most urgent health problems according to homeless (UK) Half of young homeless come from “functional” families (DK) Complexity and chronicity of homelessness not linked (DK) Excess morbidity among homeless also caused by mere shelter use (DK) Devastating impact of sleep deprivation on reintegration process (FR) Increasing use of health care precedes homelessness (FR & UK) Price of housing & rent levels causes homelessness (USA) Small minority is chronically homeless (USA) 1 out of 3 young homeless is LGBTQ (CAN) Life expectancy decreases among chronic homeless when housed (NL) …

Housing First works What is Housing First? Process rather than outcome Decoupling housing & services Chronic/complex homelessness Evidence Large experiments Canada, France Clear Housing retention Ontological security Positive indications Health including addiction but… Costs Scaling is happening – slowly Finland, Denmark, Belgium, UK, France… Has Germany “missed the train” “Managing rather than solving”

Policies changing Homeless strategies Homeless distinct problem in need of “separate” policy 50% EU member states “New” focus Housing First /led Targeted prevention Cost-efficiency Finland! But Also criminalisation Hungary! Switch “Staircase model” – “Housing First” Unavoidable process Quantity shelter Quality shelter Profile Integration process Sector with corporatist reflex Too expensive France!

FEANTSA Only European NGO working exclusively on homelessness Membership organisation Shelter & other services & (increasingly) housing Almost all EU member states 130 Large multi-stakeholder network Core funding from EU But (still…) independent & free

FEANTSA activities Research Journal, Themed research conference www.feantsaresearch.org Comms Newsletters, website, social media www.feantsa.org Exchange Themed clusters, policy conference, Housing First Hub, Housing Solutions Platform www.housingfirsteurope.eu www.housing_solutions_platform.org Monitoring Annual Update of housing exclusion in Europe Lobbying EU, UN, CoE, OECD, WHO National level Litigation Human Rights

ICESCR Session 9/2018

Relevance of the EU Money Monitoring Law Policy Guidance

Money Structural Funds Now Future SRSS ESF, ERDF, FEAD, AMIF Future InvestEU SRSS EU support for structural reform – also in social areas including homelessness Pooling of demands EU Programmes Calls Health, Social Inclusion, Rights,…

Monitoring Power of comparison Eurostat Semester Social Rights Pillar Housing Data Retrospective homeless data soon Semester Social Rights Pillar EU social policy framework for future SPC Peer reviews … Also UNECE & OECD

50.3% of poor in housing cost overburden in Germany Only Greece, Denmark and Bulgaria are worse. 13% increase of gap between poor & non-poor in housing cost-overburden btw 2010-2016. Germany in the top 6 worst performers on housing inequality (mostly East European) Germans (5,9%) 5 x less likely to be in overcrowding than non-EU migrants (26,8%) 6th worst performer after Belgium, Ireland, Luxemburg, Austria, France

Law Consumer protection Prevention of eviction / “fair terms“ Bank account for homeless Free movement Access to social assistance Unclarity! Migration Right to shelter for asylum seekers Gender Istanbul Convention

Policy Guidance Youth Guarantee Disability Strategy CRPD Child poverty/Rights Strategy Roma Framework …

Social Europe “in crisis” Commission lost its capacity to propose … Hides behind “subsidiarity” Big on Big – Small on Small “killed” sense of initiative of civil service Keep status quo is maximum possible See MFF / Future of EU debate European Parliament lost its capacity to follow up ... Plenty of good proposals but no political pressure on EC to follow up See Written Questions Council lost its capacity to decide … Too divided See Migration BUT should not make us blind for opportunities ;

Thank you for listening Questions??? Comments!!!! Criticism ### @freekspinnewijn Freek.Spinnewijn@feantsa.org www.feantsa.org