A Place of Your Own Boyan Zahariev Open Society Institute -
Sofia
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Strategies to address homelessness Who are the homeless?
(Concepts of homelessness) How many are the homeless? (Statistics
and data analysis) What to do about homelessness? (Programmes and
approaches) Some comparative EU data
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Who are the Homeless? Concepts and definitions
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Who are the homeless? Main concepts Housing vulnerability
Housing exclusion Housing accessibility Primary and secondary
homelessness Homelessness is the most widely used generic term but
it is often understood in a too narrow sense Other definitions are
better framed and more usable for policy design.
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Housing vulnerability A more general concept than homelessness
but often used interchangeably with homelessness in the more
general sense
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Housing exclusion Suffered by 4 basic categories of people
described in the European typology of homelessness and housing
exclusion (ETHOS) Roofless (rough sleepers) Houseless (e.g. living
in temporary accommodation) People living in legally insecure
accommodation People living in inadequate accommodation
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Housing accessibility Availability: Is an appropriate housing
unit available in particular social housing? Affordability: Can the
rent or price be paid? (regulatory rent control) Is financial
support available? (housing loans, tax credits, housing benefits,
rent subsidies)
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Primary and Secondary Homelessness Primary homelessness =
rooflessness = rough sleeping Secondary homelessness includes
people with no usual place of residence moving between different
types of accomodation
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Political Concerns Struggle over definitions How many will be
considered homeless would depend on how we define homelessness Very
often politicians do not want it to appear that there are many
homeless in their country. Thats why they prefer narrower
definitions
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How many are the homeless? Statistics and data analysis
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UNECE/CES Recommendations for the next round of censuses people
living in conventional dwellings; people living in other housing
units (non-conventional dwellings such as caravans, boats, etc);
people living in collective living quarters (e.g. institutions,
camps, hotels) people who have no usual place of residence (e.g.
homeless people). Definitions of 4 types of housing arrangements
all of which may include homeless people The fourth housing
arrangement includes hard-to- count groups
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CES Recommendations p. 36 The place of enumeration should be
taken as the place of usual residence of homeless or roofless
persons, nomads, vagrants and persons with no concept of usual
residence
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Roofless (living rough or in emergency accommodation) 1.1
Public space or external space Living in the streets or public
spaces, without a shelter that can be defined as living quarters
2.1 Night shelter People with no usual place of residence who make
use of overnight shelter, low threshold shelter
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Houseless (People in accommodation for the homeless) 3.1
Homeless hostel 3.2 Temporary accommodation 3.3 Transitional
supported accommodation The period of stay is intended to be short
term.
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Houseless (People in Womens Shelter) 4.1 Womens shelter
accommodation Women accommodated due to experience of domestic
violence and where the period of stay is intended to be short
term
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Houseless (People in accommodation for immigrants) 5.1
Temporary accommodation / reception centres 5.2 Migrant workers
accommodation 5.1 Immigrants in reception or short term
accommodation due to their immigrant status
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Houseless (People due to be released from institutions) 6.1
Penal institutions 6.2 Medical institutions 6.3 Childrens
institutions / homes 6.1 No housing available prior to release 6.2
Stay longer than needed due to lack of housing 6.3 No housing
identified (e.g by 18th birthday)
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Houseless (People receiving longer term support due to
homelessness) 7.1 Residential care for older homeless people 7.2
Supported accommodation for formerly homeless people Long stay
accommodation with care for formerly homeless people (normally more
than one year)
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Insecure tenure (people living in insecure accommodation) 8.1
Temporarily with family/friends 8.2 No legal (sub)tenancy 8.3
Illegal occupation of land 8.1 Living in conventional housing but
not the usual or place of residence due to lack of housing 8.2
Occupation of dwelling with no legal tenancy illegal occupation of
a dwelling 8.3 Occupation of land with no legal rights
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Insecure tenure (Living under threat of eviction) 9.1 Legal
orders enforced (rented) 9.2 Re-possession orders (owned) 9.1 Where
orders for eviction are operative 9.2 Where mortgagee has legal
order to re- possess
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Insecure tenure (People living under threat of violence) 10.1
Police recorded incidents Where police action is taken to ensure
place of safety for victims of domestic violence
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Inadequate housing The Social Protection Committee was
encouraged to develop housing indicators on homelessness and
inadequate housing and develop a series of quality indicators
defining the concepts of "adequate", "decent", and "affordable"
housing which should take national, regional and cultural
differences into account;
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Inadequate housing (People living in temporary /
non-conventional structures) 11.1 Mobile homes 11.2
Non-conventional building 11.3 Temporary structure 11.1 not
intended as place of usual residence 11.2 Makeshift shelter, shack
or shanty 11.3 Semi-permanent structure hut or cabin
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Inadequate housing (People living in unfit housing) 12.1
Occupied dwellings unfit for habitation Defined as unfit for
habitation by national legislation or building regulations
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Inadequate housing (People living in extreme overcrowding) 13.1
Highest national norm of overcrowding Defined as exceeding national
density standard for floor-space or useable rooms
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What to do about homelessness? Programmes and Approaches
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EU Housing Policies The SPC identified "homelessness and
housing exclusion" as the social inclusion thematic focus for 2009
A comprehensive questionnaire for member States was developed
Research and pilot projects supported by the Progress programme in
2009
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The future of policies to address homelessness in the EU
Broader and more detailed definitions of homelessness and housing
vulnerability Harmonized standards of adequate housing Integrated
approach recognizing that housing vulnerability is part of multiple
disadvantages, which need to be addressed together Introducing
regular monitoring and evaluation
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Broader and more detailed definitions of homelessness Broader
including new categories of people considered vulnerable in terms
of their housing conditions More detailed having more
sub-categories with more accurate descriptions "MPHASIS: mutual
progress on homelessness through advancing and strengthening
information systems"
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Harmonized standards for the quality of housing incl. minimum
quality of accommodation for the homeless 1/ structural (the
structural stability of a dwelling, that determines if it is fit
for habitation or not); 2/ physical (availability of basic
amenities that society regards as necessary to normal life, such as
running water, toilets and bath/ shower, central heating, kitchen
facilities); 3/ social (whether the dwelling is adequate to meet
the needs of the household, e.g. overcrowding).
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Integrated approach Employment (e.g. training, job counselling,
supported employment and wage subsidies) Health and care (coverage
of homeless people) Social assistance (e.g. day centres and street
work for those who are sleeping rough) What about standards for
service provision for the homeless? Currently the EU is checking
with member states whether there are such national standards.
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Introducing regular monitoring and evaluation Introducing
regular reporting systems and mechanisms Improved data collection
comprehensive and reliable Programme evaluation through research,
policy reports focused on outcome for the homeless
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People leaving penal institutions? Some lessons learned.
Integrated approach is key to success but it can be very costly and
demanding in terms of human resources and coordination All needs
and vulnerabilities should be addressed a case management approach
Preparation should start long before actual release Contacts
between the penitentiary system and the social workers in the
communities are essential Long-term follow up after release is
essential
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Some available comparative EU data Set of indicators approved
on 30 th June 2009 Housing costs overburden rateShare of the
population living in households where housing costs more than 40%
of household income Overcrowding rateShare of population living in
an overcrowded household Housing deprivationDifferent items of
deprivation defined Share of the housing costs in the household
income Median broken down by poverty groups
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Thank you! Your questions and comments are welcome.
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