1. Bill Edgar (University of Dundee UK) Peter Watson (RIS, London) European Commission MPHASIS Mutual Progress on Homelessness through Advancing and Strengthening Information Systems Stakeholders Seminar Bulgaria Sofia, February 20 th 2009

2. European Commission Purpose of Mphasis Measuring Homelessness Report  ec.europa.eu/employment_social/social_inclusion/docs/2007 Improve Capacity  National Authorities in data collection on homelessness MPHASIS Approach  Mutual Learning / Practice Strand  Research Strand

3. European Commission Homeless Pathways and Data Sources CAUSES STRUCTURAL INSTITUTIONAL RELATIONSHIP PERSONAL FACTORS Poverty Unemployment Housing Institutional Living Foster / State Care Prison Experience Armed Forces Abusive relationship (childhood) Abusive relationship (with a partner) Family Breakdown (death or separation) Mental Illness Learning Difficulty Drug Dependency Alcohol Dependency TRIGGERS Eviction Discharge Leaving family home Fleeing violent relationship Coping with living alone Illness episode Support breakdown Substance Misuse DATA SOURCES Housing Judiciary Social Welfare Surveys Health Services Penal System Service Providers

4. European Commission Data Collection Overview Homeless Homeless persons surveys France, Spain, Italy, Hungary, Czech, Pomerania Service Providers / Client Registers Netherlands, Ireland, Czech Social Welfare / Support Official Registers of Services Czech, Hungary, Latvia Regulation Denmark Funding UK, Netherlands Housing Allocation UK Needs Assessment Finland, Ireland, Scotland, France

5. European Commission Graph Slide Typology of Living Situations Housing Units Types of housing Collective Living Quarters Other Living Situations Conventional dwelling Non- conventional dwelling Institutional Building Non- institutional Building Public Spaces external spaces

6. European Commission Operational Definition Operational CategoryLiving Situation 1People Living Rough1Public space / external space 2People in emergency accommodation 2Overnight Shelters 3People living in accommodation for the homeless 34563456 Homeless Hostels Temporary Accommodation Transitional Supported Accommodation Women’s shelter or refuge accommodation 4People living in institutions7878 Health care institutions Penal institutions 5People living in non- conventional dwellings due to lack of housing 9 10 11 Mobile homes Non-conventional building Temporary structure 6People living temporarily with family and friends 12Conventional housing, but not the person’s usual place of residence

7. European Commission Supply and User Statistics Directory of Services  Bed-spaces  Prevalence occupancy rate Client Registers  Occupancy level  Turnover  Duration Profile and Trends  Profile demography  Pathways profile  Administrative geographies

8. European Commission Core Variables Test usability of Core Variables in all MPHASIS countries  Demographic characteristic (age and gender),  Nationality and migration background (country of birth),  Composition of homeless households,  Accommodation situation (immediately before service period and at time of data collection),  Duration of (current) homelessness,  Reasons for (last) homelessness.

9. European Commission Questions for Discussion Homelessness Strategy  Is there any such strategy?  What are the data needs of strategy / policies?  Are there any plans for regular monitoring?  How can an operational definition of homelessness be developed and used? Existing Systems  National/regional databases of services set up?  Client register systems installed and used for providing more continuous information?  What gaps exist / Reliability of data?  Is definition of core variables agreed by actors?

10. European Commission Issues Barriers  Is funding adequate / sustainable?  How can barriers be overcome? Information Strategy  Is responsibility / governance clear?  Is there an action plan to collect data on homelessness as part of social services ? National Action  Agreement on action needed to progress data collection  Sharing progress and information from national meetings and MPHASIS website www.trp.dundee.ac.uk/research/mphasis/  Report back to final MPHASIS conference in September 2009