Addressing homelessness is key to housing our future

Homelessness is the most extreme form of poverty and social exclusion, and it exists in every country world-wide. Local, national, and international institutional frameworks are only just beginning to specifically address homelessness as an important component of the right to adequate housing. Global crises like the pandemic, armed conflicts, and increased migration highlight the precarity of housing stability and underscore the need to specifically address homelessness in all its forms, from rough sleeping to temporary and crisis shelters to inadequate and insecure accommodation. Nearly every country that collects and reports data on street and sheltered homelessness has recently reported an increase in the number of people experiencing these two forms of homelessness. The Ruff Institute of Global Homelessness (IGH) and UN-Habitat have a long-standing collaboration to bring evidence-based best practice and policy on homelessness to the forefront of the global conversation around the right to adequate housing. This interactive event will feature voices from IGH’s Vanguard cohort, global cities and countries that have all committed to accomplishing specific goals to address homelessness within their context. Attendees will hear perspectives from stakeholders in select Vanguard cities, from mayors to homeless service providers to people with the lived experience of homelessness. Attendees will leave the session with specific ideas on how policymakers, providers, and everyday citizens from all sectors can take action to increase the access of all to the right to housing and the right to the city. Speakers will address facets from the recent independent research on IGH’s Vanguard cohort that identified common learnings on “what works” to end homelessness across six continents. Findings showed that key enablers to progress on homelessness included the presence of a lead coordinating agency, and coordinated entry to homelessness services, alongside investment in specialized and evidence-based interventions, such as assertive street outreach services, individual case management and permanent supportive housing. Key barriers to progress included heavy reliance on undignified and sometimes unsafe communal shelters, a preoccupation with meeting immediate physiological needs and sometimes perceived spiritual needs, rather than structural and system change, and a lack of emphasis on prevention. Aggressive enforcement interventions by police and city authorities, and documentary and identification barriers, were also counter-productive. Contextual variables such as political will, financial resources, available housing supply, and the impact of the pandemic all played a role in how communities were able to progress towards their goals in reducing homelessness. Speakers will also address collaborative efforts that are already underway to take these important learnings and help more local and national stakeholders build capacity to address homelessness.