Sozialpolitik und Wohnungslosenhilfe: Ein europa ̈ ischer Diskurs Contribution FEANTSA to BAWO Fachtagung 2015 Bregenz – 13/5

Homelessness – data & trends Homelessness UP  Substantial increases Except  FI, Scot Double digits  FR, Eng, EL,...  Also in strong welfare states DK Homelessness CHANGES  Youth  Migration 3 rd country / internal EU  Family

Austerity  Increasing demand and/or cuts Eng  Refocus on emergency intervention Corporatistic reaction…  Gate keeping Internal dynamics  Increased awareness of what work…  Professionalisation Inevitable cycle of service development?!  Grow, Improve, Diversify, Inefficiency, Downscaling (Housing-led/first) DK Homeless services - challenges

Homeless policies – good & bad Strategic interventions  ½ EU members states  Housing-led/first  Evidence-base  Underpinned by stats Criminalisation  Local level

EU – difficult political context EC – initiator  Juncker Big on big, small on small  Poverty is small  Thyssen Employment only priority (for the moment...) EP  Continued to be mobilised on social Homelessness priority issue of concern  But ignored by EC on social Council  EPSCO is marginalised Little interest in poverty

EU – few concrete recent actions EC Guidance on homelessness policies (2013) – voluntary... Basic banking services directive (2014) – obligatory... Study on evictions/repossessions & homelessness (2015) – informative... Retrospective data on homelessness by Eurostat (2017) – maybe...

EU – homeless in bigger files Revision EU2020  Homelessness in EU poverty target ( unlikely...) Mobility package  Free movement & homelessness ( quite unlikely...) EU Semester  CSR on homelessness ( unlikely...) Migration package  Regularisation homeless undocumented ( very unlikely...)

EU – big funding somewhere... ESF  20% poverty  Examples of funding for homeless services... ERDF  Social & health infra in frame DI FEAD  More than food  Examples of material aid for homeless... BUT  national/regional level !!  Watch mid-term review 2017 New opportunities...

EU – few interesting calls For Public authorities as lead  Social experimentation  Effective social policy change For NGOs & partners as lead  Difficult Tenders rather than calls...  Erasmus+ Easy...

FEANTSA – key achievements 2014 Context  € structural cut Litigation CoE  Netherlands Unconditional access to night shelter (decided)  Ireland Quality social housing (pending) Creation FEANTSA youth network  Young professionals in homeless sector Strong link to new EP  FEANTSA “friends“ Too few Austrians... Data/trends homelessness  OBS research

FEANTSA priorities 2015 Housing First  Training manual State of Housing Exclusion Report (new...)  Exploiting transnational stats Conferences  Annual in Paris 19 June / some place left (400+)  Research in Dublin 25 Sept Free movement & homelessness  Provoke EU action...

Opportunities 4 Austria in 2016 & later FEANTSA  Habitact peer reviews Austrian city as host...  Annual conference of FEANTSA In Austria...  Research Austrian input...  EU project Led by BAWO (member) with support FEANTSA EU  Austrian Presidency of EU 2019 Trio with RO & FI Homelessness on agenda...  Lobbying Austrian key ppl in EU social area SPC – Johan Stefanits, Brigit Zarfel ENSP – Marcel Fink (Institute Advanced Studies) Eurocties – Haupl in ExCo

Thank you for listening ?????????