Lived experience of Housing First

Activity: Talk or presentationInvited talk

Description

This paper draws on a series of five research projects evaluating programmes and projects working within the Housing First model, across the UK, over the period 2010 to 2023. Drawing on the results of over 150 semi-structured interviews, using a common methodology, the paper focuses on the experiences, perceptions and opinions of people who were using Housing First to find a lasting exit from homelessness. The paper draws on this qualitative data to highlight a number of issues with the current debates and assumptions about Housing First in the UK and beyond. Talking with people with lived experience highlighted a generally very high degree of positivity about the support offered by Housing First services. These findings were in contrast to some statistical monitoring of Housing First outcomes, which has highlighted some variable performance from Housing First in delivering improvements in social inclusion, addiction and mental and physical health, while still recording high rates of housing sustainment. However, the interviews also raised important questions about the quality of the lives experienced by people who had found housing stability through Housing First once they had exited homelessness. These questions arose in the context of deep and sustained governmental retrenchment from welfare spending, public health and social housing in the UK and centred on the ultimate viability of Housing First within the public service deserts that have been created across the UK since 2010. The paper also considers the wider implications of the findings in relation to the practicality and viability of Housing First across the highly variegated social protection and housing systems that exist at pan-EU level, also discussing possible implications for the European Platform to Combat Homelessness.
Period13 Sept 2024
Event titleFEANTSA 18th European Homelessness Research Conference
Event typeConference
LocationBudapest, HungaryShow on map
Degree of RecognitionInternational

Keywords

  • Homelessness
  • Housing First