Homelessness prevention - what works? Gunnar Sveri, Husbanken – The Norwegian State Housing Bank.

Homelessness in Norway ? The world’s best housing standard One of the world’s highest standards of living

The Norwegian State Housing Bank (NSHB) - Coordinator since 2000 Established as a bank in 1946 to tackle post-war housing shortage. Partly transformed to a welfare agency assisting vulnerable groups in the housing market Grants for R&d Loans and grants for housing Proactive function

The job is done in the municipalities State bodies shall Support the municipalities’ work and cooperate with each other Encourage the development of services Assist in the exchange of experience The municipality is the main player Duties derived from the Norwegian Social Services Act Working with the most needy is to demanding for the municipalities or the state to handle alone

Ministers of … ..Labour and Social Inclusion (Social affairs) ..Health and Care Services ..Justice and the Police ..Children and Equality ..Local Government and Regional Development (Housing) have signed the strategy.

History last 10 years 1997, 2004 & 2006 Surveys of homeless 1999 ”Equalisation” white paper on the distribution of income and living conditions 2001 – 2004 Project Homelessness 2004 Housing Policy white paper 2005 – 2007 The pathway to a permanent home – Strategy to prevent and combat homelessness

Basis for the strategy Housing first Where do the homeless stay 46% in the 4 largest cities 47% in municipalities 10 000 – 100 000 Strategic timing for efforts Release from prison(8%) Discharge from an institution(12%) Official evictions(25%) Temporary Housing Strengthens symptoms Makes quality of life worse

Objectives and targets in the strategy Primary objective Target Preventing people from becoming homeless. Number of eviction petitions shall be reduced by 50 %, and the number of evictions by 30 %. No one shall have to spend time in temporary housing upon release from prison. No one shall have to seek temporary housing upon discharge from an institution. Contribute to improve the quality of overnight shelters. No one shall be offered overnight shelters without a quality agreement. Help ensure that homeless people receive offers of permanent housing without undue delay. No one shall stay more than three months in temporary housing.

To combat and prevent homelessness is a common effort National Directorate for health and Social Affairs, The National Association for municipalities, NGOs, The NSHB Regional/counties County Governors Correctional service Health Enterprices - Hospitals and specialist health care service The NSHB’s six regional offices Municipality Departments for Health and social affairs Housing authorities Enforcement officers (governmental)

Soft measures strategy Collaboration agreements Networks Conferences Competence grants Developing projects

Collaboration agreements Example: Correctional Service The Government – Association for Local and regional Authorities Agreement on common responibility to prevent and combat homelessness Ministry of justice – Association for Local and regional Authorities Agreement on housing on release from prison Correctional Service - Municipalities Agreement for housing and support

The Collaboration agreements of the NSHB National Association for Housing Cooperatives National Association for local and regional Authorities Directorate for Health and Social Affairs Directorate for Integration and Diversity

Regional contact forums Participants The NSHB – county governors – Norwegian Correctional Services – enforcement offices – health enterprises – The Norwegian directorate of Immigration Norwegian Association of Local and Regional Authorities (KS) and large municipalities NGOs are often invited Assured progress and development Regional seminars

Contact committee for cities The project municipalities in Project Homelessness (7 cities) To monitor development To co-ordinate R&D work To compile contributions from voluntary and user organisations Peer review Exchange of experience

Municipality network 19 regional networks comprising 132 municipalities in total Exchange of ideas and experience Goal – To develop own practice Comparing statistics Developing working methods

Results 2005 Eviction petitions reduced with 20% from 2004 The arenas are functioning Growing awareness on homelessness in the municipalities 2700 households get follow-up social services.

After the strategy To combat homelessness is an everlasting challenge

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