Access all recordings from the Fourth International Housing First Conference.
The Fourth International Housing First Conference was held virtually on October 5 - 7, 2021, with a goal to enhance capacity to implement Housing First programs in Canada and internationally with a high level of fidelity to the Pathways Housing First model. View the conference program [PDF].
All Our Relations: An Indigenous perspective of homelessness in Winnipeg, Canada
Lucille Bruce, Betty Edel, Jino Distasio
Moderator: Geoff Nelson
Our discussion draws from local knowledge of Indigenous homelessness in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. We draw from our experience with the At Home Chez Soi project and the history of settler/western influences and their policies and programs (which include Housing First) that have too often been imposed on the community with little or no consultation. In contrast, we also discuss the rise of End Homelessness Winnipeg (EHW), an Indigenous Organization, mandated by the community to end homelessness in Winnipeg from a Collective Impact Model that is guided by the principles found in the Truth and Reconciliation report and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People.
Download the presentation summary [PDF].
Concurrent Block 1
Session 1: HF Communities of Interest (Moderator: Wally Czech)
- Communication as a way to implement Housing First programs (Michele Ferraris)
- fio.PSD brought Pathways Housing First model in Italy in 2014, gathering more than 50 organizations in a two years training and experimentation project called Network HFI. A second two-year project was implemented from 2017 to 2019. In 2020 fio.PSD launched the HFI - The Italian Community of Housing First. During this time, the Ministry of Welfare decided (from 2016 onwards) to support HF projects throughout Italy by allocating large funds to training, implementation of projects and monitoring.
In all these activities, communication has had and continues to play a fundamental role because it disseminates both the model and its results. From the first Summer Schools to the HomelessZero campaign with the participation of Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon, fio.PSD arrived at the publication of three books, a photographic workshop and an exhibition.
- fio.PSD brought Pathways Housing First model in Italy in 2014, gathering more than 50 organizations in a two years training and experimentation project called Network HFI. A second two-year project was implemented from 2017 to 2019. In 2020 fio.PSD launched the HFI - The Italian Community of Housing First. During this time, the Ministry of Welfare decided (from 2016 onwards) to support HF projects throughout Italy by allocating large funds to training, implementation of projects and monitoring.
- It takes a network - building the Housing First Europe Hub to support our partners to end homelessness (Samara Jones, Freek Spinnewijn, Juha Kaakinen). Download the presentation summary [PDF].
- The Housing First Europe Hub was launched 5 years ago as a joint initiative of the Y-Foundation (Finland) and FEANTSA (the European network of homeless organisations), along with 15 founding partners, and has grown to include over 20 affiliates. Our network includes organisations (big and small), housing providers, cities and national ministries, foundations and researchers across 14 countries in Europe, as well as with allies in Canada, the USA & Australia. We all work together towards the ambitious goals of: advocating for systems change and better policy to make HF the main response to homelessness in Europe; supporting the implementation of HF programmes to ensure the fidelity to the Housing First core principles with co-created training, communities of practice, support for innovations and adaptations (including HF4Y); and sharing learning and research on HF for experts, policy makers, frontline workers and managers and newcomers.
HF Communities of Interest [Vimeo].
Session 2: HF for youth (Moderator: Cilia Mejia-Lancheros)
- Housing First for Youth (Stephen Gaetz, Melanie Redman, Heidi Walter, Samara Jones). Download the presentation summary [PDF].
- In response to concerns regarding the appropriateness and effectiveness of Housing First for youthful populations, a new framework and program model “Housing First for Youth” (HF4Y) has been developed has been developed and implemented as a rights-based intervention for young people (aged 13-24) who experience or are at risk of homelessness. The adaptation of HF4Y is based on the understanding that the causes and conditions of youth homelessness are distinct from adults, and therefore the solutions must be youth-focused. Originally developed in Canada, international collaboration with European partners has led to the adoption of this HF4Y across Europe and in Canada. In this presentation we explore the core principles and service delivery model of HF4Y, and key learnings from Canada’s Making the Shift – Youth Homelessness Social Innovation Lab project. Finally, we will explore the collaboration between Making the Shift and the work of the Housing First Europe Hub.
- Housing First for Youth – Europe (Alistair MacDermid, Lisa O’Brien, Anke Jenson)
- The presentation will provide a brief context on youth homelessness in Europe before outlining the Housing First for Youth model. Thereafter the speakers of the three nations will answer four key questions about Housing First for Youth in their country. They will be joined by Tracey Longworth from the United Kingdom who will provide a unique insight into Housing First for Youth from a Housing Provider’s perspective. We will also include the voice of a young person who will share their direct experiences of the programme.
Session 3: Scaling up HF in Scandinavia (Moderator: Saija Turunen)
- Housing First Development Network – promoting scaling up of HF (Juha Kahila, Juha Soivio)
- Housing First has been the main response to homelessness in Finland since 2008. Housing First Development Network (HFDN) was started in 2013 to coordinate the development work of the national program on reducing homelessness. HFDN works together with cities and NGOs and it creates a permanent cooperation structure for all the national actors in homelessness services. HFDN supports widespread deployment of existing good practices. The work is coordinated by Y-Foundation and governed by eight network partners in the executive group. These partners are important also in providing expertise and implementation of results.
- The Norwegian Housing First network sparkles and shines. Housing First brings services together. (Anne Bergljot Gimmestad Fjelnseth). Download the presentation summary [PDF].
- Housing First in Norway will celebrate 10 years in Norway in 2022.
Housing First has not been implemented as a national model for targeting homelessness, but Housing First has spread steadily as a preferred model in more than 26 municipalities from north to south.
When COVID-19 hit, a small group of people from the Norwegian Housing Bank, Housing First-teams and NAPHA created a free on-line course in 2019. This success has led to a demand for an educational Housing First program.
Currently a group consisting of Housing First teams, interest groups and policymakers are in the working process of creating such a program, and hopefully this program will start early 2022.
- Housing First in Norway will celebrate 10 years in Norway in 2022.
Scaling up HF in Scandinavia [Vimeo].
Session 4: Enriching community supports in HF (Moderator: Ronni Greenwood)
- Enhancing social integration of homeless people: relevant outcomes of Housing First – Italy (Caterina Cortese, Pascucci Roberta)
- Housing First seeks to promote social integration (Pleace, 2016). It is not a fixed concept but is common to mean participation in fundamental social systems (e.g. community life, labour market, welfare system, family, civic participation) (Atkinson 2002; Moller 2002). In the HF approach, social integration is expected to favour as possible the activation and positive relationship with society and community. This presentation describes the results of a small-scale monitoring of a group of Housing First services in Italy (N. 31) with the aim to demonstrate that the involvement of homeless people with complex needs in a Housing First programme is associated with an increase of socioeconomic integration.
- Innovative strategies in delivering housing support: The case of Italian cities (Margherita Neri, Paolo Moreschi, Alessandro Carta, Simona Migliorisi)
- Since 2014 Housing First has attracted widespread attention in more than 50 Italian cities. One in two projects funded by recent government resources has invested in an HF apartment rather than adding a bed in a dormitory. Currently, 58 projects inspired by the HF approach are monitored by researchers from the fio.PSD’s Observatory. Despite the promittent results achieved in terms of well-being, harm reduction and socioeconomic integration (Cortese, Pascucci 2020), one of the critical issues in the Italian context has always been the difficulty to find affordable housing in the private market (Molinari, Zenarolla 2018). This contribution will present four significant case studies in the network of HF-Italy that have introduced significant innovations in the housing delivering system.
Enriching community supports in HF [Vimeo].
Session 5: Beyond housing (Moderator: Tim Aubry)
- Beyond Housing: Enhancing coordination and supports to complement case management in Housing First (Stephen Hwang, Kate Francombe Pridham, John Ecker). Download the presentation summary [PDF].
- Housing First results in superior housing outcomes, but outcomes in other life domains are not achieved in the same magnitude. The Beyond Housing Pilot intervention attempts to address this challenge by providing person-centered, wellness- and recovery-focused supports for individuals experiencing homelessness through the reduction of system barriers and the provision of enhanced community-based supports. This presentation will discuss the development and implementation of the project, with an emphasis on lessons learned, partnership development, and strategies that communities and Housing First organizations can take to enhance current service offerings.
- Housing first and antifragility: a possible common path (Marco Iazzolino, M. Maccarrone, S. Peters, E. Laureri, V. Meli, M. Cortese, G. Santagata). Download the presentation summary [PDF].
- Antifragility is a response opposite to fragility, since it takes advantage of everything related to the "extended family of disorder", such as uncertainty, chaos, volatility and the unknown.
The aim of this work is the experimentation and application of these theories in the psychosocial field, with particular reference to field work in community contexts where organizations aim to achieve social change. The intent is to activate a process oriented towards action research, which can bring knowledge and practices into dialogue in the contexts and environments of people's lives.
- Antifragility is a response opposite to fragility, since it takes advantage of everything related to the "extended family of disorder", such as uncertainty, chaos, volatility and the unknown.
Concurrent Block 2
Session 6: HF in Australia and New Zealand (Moderator: Geoff Nelson)
- 10 years of housing and recovery in Australia: an expanded approach to Housing First applications (Haley Bowman). Download the presentation summary [PDF].
- Wellways’ Sustainable Tenancies framework was established and modelled on the Pathways Housing First approach and over the last ten years, has gathered evidence from operational knowledge and program outcomes which has created opportunities for the model to be adapted to better meet the broad and varied experience of homelessness.
Both Wellways Pathways to Home and Wellways Doorway program have achieved sustainable outcomes for individuals and for communities and have provided cost benefits to the broader systems. Both Pathways to Home and Doorway have provided evidence that Housing First, when applied more broadly, strengthens outcomes and communities.
- Wellways’ Sustainable Tenancies framework was established and modelled on the Pathways Housing First approach and over the last ten years, has gathered evidence from operational knowledge and program outcomes which has created opportunities for the model to be adapted to better meet the broad and varied experience of homelessness.
- Adapting Housing First for Aotearoa New Zealand – a Māori (Indigenous peoples) perspective (Rami Alrudaini, Awatea Hawke, Vikki Ham). Download the presentation summary [PDF].
- In 2017 the Housing First Auckland Collective formed. Five non-government organisations came together, believing that a Collective would have the greatest impact in ending homelessness in Aotearoa New Zealand’s largest city. Housing First Auckland established the Kaupapa Māori Group (a Māori workstream) to lead the creation and implementation of the framework Tāiki to support kaimahi (staff). Founding Kaupapa Māori Group member and Peer Support Worker Awatea Hawke and Housing First Auckland Māori Strategic Lead Vikki Ham will speak to the framework, its whakapapa (genealogy/creation), the outcomes for whānau (people served by Housing First Auckland) and our housing retention rate. Integral to the implementation of Housing First in Aotearoa New Zealand has been that the voice of lived experience is woven throughout the programme. This is explicit in government policy and the Housing First Auckland Collective workplan. The Collective work has matured to the point where the peer support role is ready to evolve. Awatea Hawke will also speak to work he is leading to co-create a by lived-experience for livedexperience peer support strategy aligned with our indigenous framework Tāiki.
HF in Australia and New Zealand [Vimeo].
Session 7: HF during COVID-19 (Moderator: James Lachaud)
- “You Didn’t Just Hand Us Off”: The Innovative Partnerships Driving Successful Client Outcomes of Toronto’s Rapid Rehousing Initiative (Melissa Doyle, France Helen Ewing, Ashley Fontaine, Nicholas Broderick, and Dan Kershaw). Download the presentation summary [PDF].
- When the Covid-19 pandemic hit, the City of Toronto quickly established the Rapid Rehousing Initiative (RRHI) to move people experiencing homelessness into rent-geared-to-income (RGI) housing. The initiative was part of a comprehensive response to move people out of congregate shelter and encampment settings and into appropriate physical distancing accommodations, like hotels. Between March 2020 and June 2021, the RRHI housed 744 individuals experiencing homelessness in 540 Toronto Community Housing units. The initiative is ongoing, with approximately 10 households signing leases each week.
- Phone/smartphone-based intervention Guideline (Pablo Marchesi, Francesc Talens). Download the presentation summary [PDF].
- In the context of the confinement declared due to COVID-19, Hábitat HF Program had to find new ways to deliver support in a context with restrictions in face-to-face intervention. In that period we observed a significative increase in specific challenges, such as barriers accessing basic needs, mental health crisis, abstinence problems, loneliness and gender violence. For that purpose, we created and applied a Phone/smartphone-based intervention Guideline, aimed to use this technology to give the best possible support to our clients.
Session 8: Coordinated access systems in HF (Moderator: Wally Czech)
- Community Shelter Board’s Unified Supportive Housing System (Lianna Barbu). Download the presentation summary [PDF].
- The Unified Supportive Housing System (USHS) is a CSB initiative that centralizes placement into permanent supportive housing (PSH) of eligible individuals and families across Columbus and Franklin County, Ohio. USHS connects individuals and families experiencing homelessness to permanent housing without preconditions and barriers to entry, such as sobriety, treatment or service participation requirements. The goal of USHS is to streamline and provide a standardized coordinated system for applying for, approving, and placing household that have the greatest need and vulnerability, and experience homelessness, in PSH.
- Coordinated access and coordinated entry system processes in the housing and homelessness sector: A critical analysis of current practices (John Ecker, Molly Brown, Tim Aubry, Kate Francombe Pridham, and Stephen Hwang). Download the presentation summary [PDF].
- Coordinated access and coordinated entry systems have become central features in community responses to homelessness in Canada and the United States. This presentation will share findings from a review of the coordinated systems literature. The presentation will focus on an analysis of the evidence related to four pillars of coordinated systems: 1) access; 2) assessment; 3) prioritization; and 4) matching and referral. Results demonstrate that the components of coordinated systems lack a strong evidence base and that there is little evidence that coordinated systems improve individual-level outcomes such as length of stay in housing. Further, current coordinated system practices, particularly assessments, may be contributing to inequitable access to housing. Limitations of the analysis and considerations for implementation of coordinated systems, and its impact on Housing First, will be discussed.
Coordinated access systems in HF [Vimeo].
Session 9: Pathways Vermont’s rural implementation of Housing First: An overview (J Helms, Moderator: Sam Tsemberis)
Pathways Vermont is the first rural implementation of Housing First and a leading partner in the Housing First movement in the United States. Guided by Housing First principles, our practices include a peer approach to relationships with program participants, person-centered service planning and provision, and harm reduction. Our innovative model centers folks receiving services, increases choice and mutuality, minimizes coercion, and prioritizes community integration. Pathways Vermont’s Training Institute educates other Housing First practitioners about our practices; clients have included groups from the Netherlands, Ireland, Spain, Bhutan, England, Rhode Island, and Massachusetts.
Pathways Vermont’s rural implementation of Housing First: An overview [Vimeo].
Download the presentation summary [PDF].
Session 10: Housing First for individuals with opioid use disorder (Andrew Spiers LSW, Jeffrey Jackson, Kate Gleason-Bachman; Moderator: Maryann Roebuck)
This session will address special considerations for implementing a high fidelity Housing First program with individuals using substances, with particular emphasis on opioids. Attendees will explore the role opioids play in increased rates of unsheltered homelessness, note high risk transition points for individuals with opioid use disorder or polysubstance use disorder, and discuss harm reduction strategies used to keep participants safe in independent living settings. Presenters will provide information on our Integrated Healthcare program, unique services offered to our OUD/SUD population, and partnerships to consider in your local community. The session will also cover common concerns and barriers to care, as well as creative solutions employed by our teams to keep our participants safe and successfully housed.
Unfortunately this session was cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances.