Author: ighome

Glasgow, Scotland Joins the A Place to Call Home Campaign

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Glasgow, Scotland announced on October 9th its position as the seventh official Vanguard City in the Institute of Global Homelessness’s A Place to Call Home campaign. The Glasgow Homeless Network, in close collaboration with the city, is at the head of the effort in Glasgow.

The City of Glasgow has pledged to work toward a specific goal by the year 2020 – ending street homelessness.

“Rough sleeping is the most damaging form of homelessness and an ordeal that no one should have to endure. It is a very exciting opportunity for Glasgow and Scotland to be at the front of this programme going forward,” explained Maggie Brunjes, Chief Executive of the Homeless Network.

Glasgow’s target is to reduce the number of people sleeping rough every week by 75% in the city centre area and reduce rough sleeping by 50% across Glasgow, estimated at just over 500 individuals annually, by the end of 2020.

Dame Louise Casey, IGH Chair and former head of the UK Government’s Rough Sleepers’ Unit, said IGH is impressed by the close collaboration between the public and charity sectors in Glasgow, adding: “We believe this is a combination with the strongest potential to achieve the type of change that can be an inspiration to other world cities facing a deeper and more complex challenge.”

Read more about the announcement and plans in Glasgow here.

IGH Joins Rijeka, Croatia to Collect Data; Auckland, New Zealand Counts Street Homelessness; and More

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Ira Mata, Ira Tangata: Auckland, New Zealand’s Homeless Count

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Over 700 people took to the streets of Auckland, New Zealand to conduct a point-in-time count of people experiencing homelessness. According to Toby Manhire of The Spin Off, volunteers spread from Pukekohe to Warkworth to collect information on the current state of street homelessness. Local homelessness agencies plan to utilize the data to improve allocation of support services. The count was organized by the housing first collective of five community organizations, and supported by the Auckland City Council.

“This will help the community take another step forward to help end homelessness,” said Chris Farrelly, the ‘grandfather’ of street counts in Auckland. Initial figures of the count will be announced on World Homeless Day, October 10, 2018.

Read the article here.

Tackling Homelessness and Meeting Housing Need Conference

The Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) will host the Tackling Homelessness and Meeting Housing Need Conference on December 5-6, 2018 in Northampton, England. The conference is an opportunity for housing professionals throughout England to convene and consider key policy and strategic issues in homelessness and housing. The Institute encourages senior and front-line members of staff; staff working in the voluntary sector; and members of health and welfare agencies to attend the conference. With a wide range of delegates attending, CIH suggests that this will also be an opportunity for organizations to network and develop new professional relationships.

Register here.

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The Centre for Homelessness Impact Looks at Evidence in England

In the Centre for Homelessness Impact’s Making Better Use of Evidence to End Rough Sleeping in England blog, Dr. Lígia Teixeira discusses how an evidence-based framework could compliment England’s forthcoming strategy to resolve street homelessness. Dr. Teixeira suggests that such a framework could help the country monitor its progress, while focusing on impact rather than activity and costs. According to The Centre, there are three key steps to move this agenda forward; 1) draw on bodies of evidence and build the evidence of what works; 2) focus on improvement and 3) build local capacity for evidence use. They encourage the use of reliable evidence on homelessness and related issues in government and sector-wide operations for the development and implementation of effective public policy.

“Greater investment in experimentation and evaluation would not only help the government meet its goal to end street homelessness in England, but ensure it does so sustainably and permanently.”

Read the blog here.

Rijeka, Croatia Conducts Street Homelessness Count

The Institute of Global Homelessness (IGH) joined city leaders and volunteers in Rijeka, Croatia to learn more about the state of local street homelessness. Rijeka is the fifth vanguard city to join the IGH A Place to Call Home Campaign. Sister Veronika Mila Popić, Director of Depaul Croatia and head of the Rijeka House of Refugees, and Dragica Marač, Head of the County Social Policy Department and Youth, lead the outreach initiative. Upon joining the campaign, Marač expressed the city’s goal to identify the number and location of people living without shelter by the end of 2018. The first steps toward providing emergency accommodation are already underway.

Read the article here. (This article’s original text is in Croatian)

Learn about Rijeka’s goal here.

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Homelessness in America: Focus on Families with Children

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The United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) released a brief called Focus on Families with Children exploring data and information on: the scale of family homelessness; knowledge about the families with children who experience homelessness; knowledge about patterns of homelessness among families with children; knowledge about families’ risks for experiencing homelessness; and the most significant gaps in available data and current understanding of families with children who experience homelessness. This brief is apart of USICH’s Homelessness in America series, which aims to build upon a clear understanding of who is at risk of homelessness, who experiences homelessness, and differences within and between sub-populations of people who are at risk or are experiencing homelessness.

According to the brief, families with children represent one-third of all people experiencing homelessness on a given night in America. Overall, the number of family households experiencing homelessness at a point in time declined by 27% between 2010 and 2017. USICH suggests that further research and data is needed several areas including documentation of the patterns and trajectories of homelessness among families living in rural areas; the impact of race, gender, and other demographic factors on entries into and exits from homelessness and more.

Read the report on the IGH Hub.

If there is news you would like to include in a future update, contact us here: http://www.ighomelessness.org/contact

England Plans to End Rough Sleeping by 2027; Adelaide, Australia Launches Online Tool to Track Rough Sleeping; Hong Kong Looks at Local Street Homelessness; and More

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Homeless Link: Homelessness Law, Practice, and the Homelessness Reduction Act Course

Homeless Link will be holding knowledge courses on homelessness legislation and practice in the United Kingdom (UK). The next available classes will be held in Newcastle, UK on Tuesday, September 25, 2018, and in Manchester, UK on Wednesday, September 26, 2018 to help people working in the homelessness service sector develop an understanding of the updated Homelessness Reduction Act. Participants will learn about five key areas: eligibility for assistance, homelessness, priority need, intentionality and local connection. The aim is to help service providers best support clients to achieve their best housing outcome.

Register for the course in Newcastle here.

Register for the course in Manchester here.

Ending Rough Sleeping in England by 2027

The Communities Secretary of England, James Brokenshire, unveiled a new strategy to drive an end toward street homelessness throughout the country by the year 2027. The plan will offer targeted support, including assistance for mental health issues and substance abuse, to people sleeping rough. According to the Guardian, the Department for Communities and Local Government estimates that over 4,700 people were living without shelter in 2017. The government will take a three-pronged approach to the issue – prevention, intervention, and recovery.

“This strategy is about how we can support people, how we can direct, and yes, sometimes challenge, some of those who are living rough to get into those services that will help make a difference,” said Brokenshire.

Read the article here.

Indianapolis, Indiana Community Plan to End Homelessness

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The Coalition for Homelessness Intervention and Prevention (CHIP), the Indianapolis Continuum of Care, and their community partners collaborated to assemble a five-year, comprehensive plan to end homelessness by the year 2023. They define this as: ensuring that any individual or family in Indianapolis who experiences homelessness will spend no more than 30 days without a permanent, safe, affordable place to live. The plan supports strategies outlined in Opening Doors – the United States’ first national comprehensive plan – and was developed by local agencies, advocates, and people with lived experience of homelessness in Indianapolis. The plan introduces the city’s strategic priorities and their strategies to achieve them. Strategic Priority 3, for example, is to expand and enhance wraparound services to enhance housing stability and prevent returns to homelessness. They also map out strategies for addressing homelessness among specific populations – veterans; youth and young adults; families; and people who have experienced chronic homelessness. Indianapolis leaders are continuing to build on a shared approach to make homelessness in their city rare, short-lived, and recoverable.

Read the plan on the IGH Hub.

Where Do Hong Kong’s Rough Sleepers Go?

According to figures from Hong Kong’s Social Welfare Department, approximately 1,127 people reported to be experiencing street homelessness in the region between 2017 and 2018. About half of those people said that their inability to afford housing costs led to their homelessness. Other reasons include unemployment, the need to be closer to work, fleeing family conflict, and more. While few businesses in Hong Kong stay open for 24 hours, about half of the 240 McDonald’s do, making it a place that people utilize for temporary shelter. There are several temporary shelters available however, they sometimes go underutilized because some people prefer not to abide by shelters’ rules and regulations.

“If the government continues to avoid tackling the fundamental causes – the rocketing housing prices and the shortage of community infrastructure in the face of population expansion – social service providers like us won’t be able to cover the constantly growing homeless group, no matter how hard we work and how willing we are to serve,” said a local social worker.

Read the article here.

Adelaide, Australia Launches Online Tool to Track Rough Sleeping

As part of the Don Dunstan Foundation’s (DDF) Adelaide Zero Project, Adelaide, Australia launched an online dashboard that tracks the number of people sleeping rough. The tool also keeps a record of how many people have been moved into secure housing. Executive Director of DDF, David Pearson, says that the effort can help bridge the gap in public awareness of the city’s street homelessness. The foundation’s goal is to maintain the dashboard as close to real time as possible. The Adelaide Zero Project has connected over 35 organizations, with the goal to make Adelaide the first Australian city to achieve functional zero homelessness in the inner-city by 2020. Adelaide is also the second city to join our A Place to Call Home Campaign, a global effort to support 150 cities to end street homelessness by 2030.

Read the article here.

Tshwane Holds Employment Expo for People Experiencing Homelessness

Tshwane, South Africa’s Metro Department of Community and Social Development held an expo to connect people experiencing homelessness with local organizations who can help them with employment. Deputy Director of Welfare Services, Tinyiko Maluleke, says that the city has revised their plan to address local homelessness. More than 150 people attended the event. Read more about Tshwane’s efforts to reduce homelessness as a vanguard city in the A Place to Call Home Campaign here.

Read the article here.

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If there is news you would like to include in a future update, contact us here: http://www.ighomelessness.org/contact

Understanding Rural Homelessness in Canada; Housing Over 500 People in Auckland, New Zealand; and More

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FEANTSA’s 13th European Research Conference on Homelessness

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In partnership with the Metropolitan Research Institute Budapest and Foundation Budapest, FEANTSA will host the 13th Annual European Research Conference on Homelessness in Budapest. This year, the Social and Economic Integration of Homeless People themed conference will explore evidence on levels of and opportunities for social and economic integration of people experiencing homelessness, as well as the broad theme of homelessness and housing exclusion, in Europe and elsewhere. FEANTSA and their partners welcome presentations on policies and practices that address social integration and labor market participation of people experiencing homelessness throughout Europe. The deadline to register is August 31, 2018.

Register here.

Rural Homelessness in Canada

Homelessness is often misunderstood as an issue that only occurs in large, urban areas. According to Malaika Taylor of the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness, street homelessness occurs in rural areas but often goes unnoticed or is hidden. Many people experiencing homelessness in rural areas are reluctant to acknowledge their situation. Sometimes, they are also discouraged from utilizing services and resources in city regions, due to barriers that limit accessibility. Lack of recognition of homelessness in rural communities can contribute to funding deficits for efforts to address the issue. In addition, services tailored to marginalized populations and their distinct lived experiences are sometimes non-existent. Fortunately, research on rural homelessness is increasing.

Read the article here.

On my own two feet: why do some people in the United Kingdom return to rough sleeping after time off the streets?

A team of peer researchers at St. Mungo’s Recovery College with lived experience of homelessness conducted a research project to explore reasons why people return to rough sleeping. They identified four key areas of analysis, push factors; pull factors; holes in the safety net; and access to services, and wish to emphasize that all of the factors act together to create stress on a person that can lead to rough sleeping again. Many of the participants expressed experiencing more than one push factor, sometimes simultaneously. Some push factors identified in the study include eviction; leaving accommodation due to unmet needs, poor quality, isolation, or loneliness; and more. Pull factors identified include feeling competent in survival; feeling confident in their ability to meet basic needs; feeling ‘addicted’ to the streets; and the desire to live free from rules or constraints. Their research suggests that often times, people have repeat experiences of street homelessness because they lack protective factors that would increase their resilience against crisis. The research team makes a number of recommendations including: increased access to housing; increased support after exiting homelessness, specifically related to criminal victimization and offending; and furthering research on a number of housing related issues.

Read the report on the IGH Hub.

Housing First in Auckland, New Zealand

Over 500 individuals and families experiencing homelessness in Auckland, New Zealand have obtained permanent housing since Housing First was launched in the city in March 2017. Led by Lifewise and Auckland City Mission, the program design was unique because it incorporates insight from people with lived experience of homelessness. The latest housing first figures come as New Zealand anticipates Housing First founder Sam Tsemberis’s visit for a week-long workshop tour across the country.

“Listening to the expertise of those who have lived experience of homelessness is a key element of getting this right for Māori,” said CEO of Lifewise, Moira Lawler.

Read the article here.

If there is news you would like to include in a future update, contact us here: http://www.ighomelessness.org/contact

Japan Sees Decline in Homelessness; St. Mungo’s Helps Women Experiencing Homelessness After Imprisonment; and More

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HUD Helps Fund Youth Homelessness Programs in the U.S.

The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) distributed grants to help fund a wide range of housing initiatives, including rapid rehousing, permanent supportive housing, transitional housing, and host homes in 11 communities across the U.S., through its Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program. In total, HUD awarded $43 million to programs in San Diego, California; Louisville, Kentucky; Boston, Massachusetts; Northwest Minnesota; Nebraska; Northern New Mexico; Columbus, Ohio; Nashville, Tennessee; Vermont; and Washington, working to end youth homelessness. Over the next four months, these communities will develop and submit a coordinated community plan to prevent and end homelessness among youth to HUD.

Read the article here.

St. Mungo’s: Housing Women After Imprisonment

Ruth Legge from St. Mungo‘s Offender Services explains how the organization works with women in prison and after their release to help them find permanent housing. According to Legge, any individual exiting incarceration is at risk for homelessness, but women face a unique set of challenges. After losing custody of their children while imprisoned, many women can only regain custody if they have adequate accommodation following their release. However, their need for housing assistance may not be prioritized without the custody of their children. St. Mungo’s works alongside social services, statutory authorities and Reunite programs to support women in finding accommodation, with or without the custody of their children. Domestic violence can also affect a woman’s housing situation. Many women have a permanent residence upon release, but are unwilling to return because a violent partner still resides there. In addition, because women sometimes choose to live on the street rather than with a violent partner, they are deemed ‘”intentionally homeless”. In these cases, St. Mungo’s works with domestic violence teams to connect women to shelter if they will not return to their residence and assists them in appealing claims of intentional homelessness. The organization suggests that there be clear and consistent links between female offending, rough sleeping, and domestic abuse in order to improve efforts to support the women affected.

Read the article here.

Australia’s National Homelessness Conference 2018: Ending Homelessness Together

The Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI), in partnership with Homelessness Australia, will host the National Homelessness Conference 2018 – Ending Homelessness Together, in Melbourne, Australia. Attendees will convene at Melbourne Cricket Ground on Monday, August 6 and Tuesday, August 7, 2018. The convening will provide policy makers and practitioners from across Australia the opportunity to learn, engage, and network. According to AHURI, the conference program will address a broad range of issues related to homelessness including housing models that end homelessness; responding to the causes of homelessness; specialist support, mental health issues; people experiencing homelessness after incarceration; outcomes reporting; and more.

Register here.

Japan Sees Decline in Street Homelessness

According to the most recent homelessness count conducted in Japan, the number of people living without shelter is the lowest it has been in over a decade. According to Kyodo of the Japan Times, in January, the Welfare Ministry reported that nearly than 5,000 people were experiencing street homelessness. In Tokyo, Japan’s largest city, there were a reported 1,242 people observed on the city’s streets at that point in time. In several prefectures, including Aomori, Akita, Yamagata, Nara, Shimane and Nagasaki, no homelessness was reported. An official from the Ministry said that support measures from the government have helped to address the issue.

Read the article here.

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Child Separation among Families Experiencing Homelessness

This brief is the seventh of The Homeless Families Research Briefs series commissioned by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The briefs build on HUD’s Family Options Study. It provides a detailed analysis of factors that may affect a child’s risk of being separated from their family while experiencing homelessness. Nearly 40% of families involved in the study reported that their child was separated from them before or during their stay in an emergency shelter. The study suggests that housing instability, both before and after a stay in emergency accommodation, is correlated with child separation.

Read the brief on the IGH Hub.

If there is news you would like to include in a future update, contact us here: http://www.ighomelessness.org/contact

Greater Manchester, England Works Toward Ending Rough Sleeping; The U.S. Department of Education Addresses Student Homelessness; and More

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Centre for Homelessness Impact: Why reliable evidence matters

The Centre for Homelessness Impact reflects on Evidence Week – an initiative led by Sense about Science and other agencies in the United Kingdom (UK). The initiative aims to explore the significance of evidence and data across a number of different fields of work and service and to encourage legislators to “consider the merits of evidence-based policy and legislation”. The last day of the week featured a panel of experts on homelessness who discussed new research on solutions to tackle the issue. Barriers to utilizing evidence were also examined. According to member of parliament (MP), Mary Creagh, systemic and structural challenges in translating evidence to the parliament may make it difficult for members to design evidence-based policies.

Norman Lamb MP said “if you are passionate about making a difference to mankind, you will only succeed in that by following the evidence of what works”.

Read the post here.

The U.S. Department of Education Addresses Student Homelessness

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“Every night we stayed in a different motel. The only thing I could control was my grades. The feeling of getting an A at the end of the term was all I needed to remind me that I would survive, in and out of school”, said Latte Harris.

The United States Department of Education’s Youth Engagement Team hosted a session that provided students the opportunity to discuss the challenges of experiencing homelessness while trying to pursue an education. Harris shared her lived experience of homelessness during high school. As she explained, many students are overwhelmed with having to worry about both their academic performance and their struggles to meet their basic, everyday needs. The Department has a team dedicated to addressing the needs of students affected by homelessness. Programs, such as The Education for Homeless Children and Youths Program, aim to help youth and families navigate the obstacles associated with inadequate living conditions to ensure students are able to achieve their academic goals.

Read the article here.

FEANTSA’s Ending Homelessness Awards 2018

Following the success of their 2017 inaugural awards, the European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless (FEANTSA) will recognize innovative projects funded by the Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD) at this year’s Ending Homelessness Awards. FEANTSA hopes that the Awards will provide agencies the opportunity to showcase how FEAD is helping combat homelessness throughout Europe and inspire other projects seeking financial assistance from the fund. All three winners will be invited to present their projects at the 2019 FEANTSA Policy Conference. The award ceremony will be held on Tuesday, November 2, 2018 in Brussels, Belgium. The deadline to apply is Friday, September 14, 2018.

Apply here.

Greater Manchester 2020 Vision: “A whole society response”

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Mayor Andy Burnham of Greater Manchester, England has set an ambitious goal to end rough sleeping throughout the city by the year 2020. Jess McCabe of Inside Housing reports on the city’s progress thus far. The local government’s most recent count, conducted in November 2017, suggests that rough sleeping had increased by 40% over a one-year span. Beth Knowles, mayoral lead on homelessness and rough sleeping and Mike Wright, strategic lead on homelessness at Greater Manchester Combined Authority, have been doing “hard legwork to prepare the ground”. Knowles and Wright have several projects underway, aimed at housing people with complex needs, sleeping rough. In addition, a Homelessness Action Network was assembled to unite regional stakeholders to address the issue collectively. McCabe discusses recent changes in legislation that can help drive the city toward the 2020 goal, such as funding used to house people experiencing chronic homelessness via the Social Impact Bond and new homelessness prevention duties enforced through the Homelessness Reduction Act.

“We will do everything to get to that point, and if we fall slightly short, we fall slightly short, but it’s much better than we were at the beginning”, said Knowles.

Read the article here.

San Francisco, California Homelessness: A view of progress

Jeff Kositsky, Director of San Francisco, California’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing, drove around the Mission District and Mission Bay neighborhoods, pointing out blocks where homelessness encampments used to line the sidewalks. Kositsky said he is “thrilled” to see less of them. He and his team have connected about 792 people who used to live on these streets with temporary accommodation and supportive services. According to Kositsky, the city is making progress toward ending street homelessness, slowly but surely. San Francisco Mayor, London Breed, expressed her hopes to house the remaining population of people living without shelter. The San Francisco Chronicle suggests that Mayor Breed is in support of a proposal to increase taxes on businesses that can be allocated to fund more housing. Kositsky hopes to see improvement in policies for the allocation of housing, such as eliminating barriers that prioritize housing certain groups over others.

Read the article here.

The State of Homelessness in Melbourne, Australia

Calla Wahlquist of The Guardian Australia shares data on homelessness in Melbourne, Australia. Figures from the most recent biannual survey suggests that nearly 300 people were experiencing street homelessness within Melbourne in June 2018. These figures reflect an approximate 15% decrease from the number of people reported to be living on the city’s streets in 2016. Housing Minister Martin Foley described the reduction as an “encouraging sign” that their efforts are working.

“Ultimately, the solution is to get people into housing but pathways out of homelessness require a case-by-case solution,” said Arron Wood, Melbourne’s acting Lord Mayor.

Read the article here.

If there is news you would like to include in a future update, contact us here: http://www.ighomelessness.org/contact

Young Families Experiencing Homelessness in America; Homelessness Prevention in England; and More

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Missed Opportunities: Pregnant and Parenting Youth Experiencing Homelessness in America

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In this briefing, Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago analyzes homelessness among youth who are pregnant or parenting. It is the third in Voices of Youth Count’s series of research-to-impact briefs on understanding and addressing youth homelessness. Voices of Youth Count is a national initiative to fill gaps in America’s knowledge about the scope and scale of youth homelessness. Research suggests that the nearly 4.2 million adolescents and young adults in America who have experienced homelessness during a 12-month period are pregnant or parenting. The adolescent or young adult stage in life can foster a unique set of challenges, such as having little or no experience living independently. Such challenges could make it difficult for them to effectively assume the responsibilities of parenthood. Chapin Hall recommends strengthening efforts around pregnancy prevention; relationship building; and service engagement.

Read the brief on the IGH Hub.

Ineffectiveness of Criminalizing Homelessness

Joseph W. Mead and Sara Rankin of City Lab discuss increased criminalization among the homelessness population across America. According to the reporters, restriction placed upon the population includes rules or laws that prohibits them from engaging in necessary, life-sustaining activities, such as sitting, standing, sleeping, or asking for help, without providing reasonable alternative. According to their research, professors at City Lab suggest that such enforcement is counterproductive and they encourage communities to refrain from punishing people who “live in public and have nowhere else to go”. Experts also argue that criminal enforcement makes it harder to exit homelessness.

“Jails and prisons make extremely expensive and ineffective homeless shelters,” said Mead and Rankin.

Read the article here.

Homelessness among Families in Chicago

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For the first time, the city of Chicago’s official database for homelessness among individuals, maintained by All Chicago, and data collected by Chicago Public Schools, that analyzes student homelessness, has been combined to draw figures of family homelessness in a new study. Mark Brown of the Chicago Sun Times reports that approximately 10,000 families experienced homelessness in Chicago at some point during the past year, according to the study. It also provides demographic insights into homelessness among families. Based on the study, advocates led by the Corporation for Supportive Housing urge the city and state to increase funds toward homelessness prevention and to make families living in inadequate – overcrowded – conditions eligible for services.

Read the article here.

Homelessness Prevention Legislation in Cornwall, England

According to the head of Cornwall, England’s Housing Strategy and Partnerships department, Mel Brain, nearly 6,000 families reported that they felt they were at risk of homelessness in 2016. Under new law, households can be classified as ‘homeless’ within 56 days of an eviction notice, compared to the previous 28-day time-frame. This increase can allow households more time to improve their situation before being forced into homelessness. In addition, local authorities are now required to provide such households with assistance prior to eviction.

“If someone is homeless or threatened with homelessness we need to carry out an assessment and you then have to set out a housing plan which sets out what steps they need to take to prevent homelessness,” said Brain.

Read the article here.

If there is news you would like to include in a future update, contact us here: http://www.ighomelessness.org/contact

Canada Has a New Homelessness Strategy; Dame Louise Casey Discusses Hopes for Ending Rough Sleeping in the United Kingdom; and More

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Canada’s New Homelessness Strategy

According to the Honourable Jean-Yves Duclos, Minister of Families, Children and Social Development, the government of Canada plans to make bold changes to the federal strategy to prevent and end homelessness. Through the Reaching Home strategy, Canada will reinforce its community-based approach to address homelessness – funding municipalities and local service providers directly. This includes helping communities develop and deliver data-driven plans with clear outcomes. The strategy will also be expanded to new communities. Participating communities will work toward a 50% homelessness reduction goal over the next 10 years. Over that 10-year span, the government will invest over $2 billion to carry out the new strategy.

Read the blog here.

Dame Louise Casey: Ending Homelessness in the United Kingdom

The Institute of Global Homelessness’s Advisory Committee Dame Louise Casey discusses a new report by Crisis UK, Everybody In: How to end homelessness in Great Britain, in The Times UK. The report presents an ambitious plan for the United Kingdom (UK) government to end homelessness over the next decade. Crisis research has reported that there are currently 236,000 people experiencing the most severe forms of homelessness in the UK. Dame Louise Casey reflects on her role in ending rough sleeping in England a year earlier than the country’s 2002 target, when she served as the lead of the government’s newly established rough sleepers unit. According to Dame Louise, history shows that with adequate political support and effective policies in place, that same goal can be achieved again.

Dame Louise says that the report “provides politicians not only with the challenge to take action, but the solutions to make lasting change.”

Read the article here.

Los Angeles County, California, USA Sees Decline in Veteran Homelessness

According to Los Angeles County, California, USA’s annual homelessness count, homelessness among veterans has declined by 18%. The announcement came at The National Coalition for Homeless Veterans conference, where hundreds of veteran advocates from across the United States convened to collaborate on ways to improve assistance to veterans experiencing homelessness. L.A. County officials give credit to work with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs’ National Homeless Program Office for some of this success. Over 2,100 veterans in the county were placed into permanent housing in 2017 and more than 13,000 others received some housing assistance. Local organizers say that the decrease is a positive sign for their region and the nation as a whole.

Read the article here.

Citizen Group Undertakes Street Homelessness Count in Tokyo

Data collected from a Street Homelessness Count conducted in Tokyo, Japan by Advocacy and Research Centre for Homelessness (ARCH) at the Tokyo Institute of Technology estimate that over 500 people were sleeping on the street on one night in January in 4 of 23 wards in the city. Volunteers took record of the various demographics of the people found sleeping on the streets of Tokyo, such as gender and age. The survey has been conducted by Arch for several years, with more comprehensive counts in August, across a greater number of wards.

Read the article here. (This article’s original text is in Japanese)

If there is news you would like to include in a future update, contact us here: http://www.ighomelessness.org/contact

City of Rijeka Joins the A Place to Call Home Campaign

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Panoramic view of Rijeka

Rijeka, Croatia announced on June 13th its position as the fifth official Vanguard City in the Institute of Global Homelessness’s A Place to Call Home campaign. The effort in Rijeka is spearheaded by Head of the County Social Policy Department and Youth Dragica Marač and Director of Depaul Croatia and head of Rijeka’s House of Refuge, sister Veronica Mila Popić. Co-operation in this project was signed by Primorsko-goranska County, Rijeka Archdiocese, City of Rijeka, Center for Social Welfare Rijeka, with Depaul Croatia as the key coordinating body.

The City of Rijeka, in partnership with Primorje-Gorski Kotar County, the Rijeka Archdiocese, the Center for Social Welfare, Rijeka, and Depaul Croatia, have pledged to work toward a specific goal by the year 2020 – ending street homelessness, reducing street homelessness, or a goal specific to a population of people living on the street.

“By the end of this year, we want to initially establish the number of people living in Rijeka living as homeless people and in which locations they live,” explained Ms. Marač. “We will do this with field assistants, and we will include professional staff in mobile teams. Based on this we will look at the needs for the first emergency acceptance of these people.”

Sister Popić said Rijeka’s participation in the campaign will help the city gather the necessary information, including how many people are experiencing homelessness and where they reside, to effectively address homelessness.

“We think they are living both in Rijeka and in the county, but we do not know exactly how much they are and where they all reside, so the initiative will help gather data that would help,” Sister Popić said.

The first steps to provide emergency accommodation are already underway and accommodation is planned to be provided in smaller facilities. Sister Popić emphasized that the initiative envisages an innovative system that can be applied later in other Croatian cities.

Ms. Marač said that homelessness is a social problem that needs wider recognition and approaches, affecting not only people living in cities, but also, for example, in abandoned facilities in smaller places. She stated that the individuals working in the homelessness service sector, such as social workers and psychologists, will join together to complete field work to gather data throughout the region.

Read more about the announcement and plans in Rijeka here, here, and here.

Vanguard Cities Gather in Chicago

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Last week, representatives from 13 cities gathered in Chicago for the first annual Vanguard Cities Summit, part of IGH’s A Place to Call Home initiative. This select group of vanguard cities will be on the front line of the larger global movement, leading by example and demonstrating what’s possible. Each city will commit to achieving a goal by the end of 2020 that puts them on a path to ending street homelessness by 2030.

Our partners at DePaul University’s Newsline reported on the event:

What can homelessness advocates in Chile teach housing experts in Australia? How can ideas sparked in the streets in South Africa reach policymakers in Canada? While homelessness looks different around the globe, solutions are now being shared and adapted between cities as part of A Place to Call Home, a campaign of the Institute of Global Homelessness at DePaul.

“We are generating the momentum of a global campaign, and bringing these cities together is the drumbeat beneath it all,” says Kat Johnson, director of the institute.

Last week, about 40 international policymakers and advocates gathered at DePaul for the first official meeting of the vanguard cities, a group at the forefront of the institute’s campaign to end street homelessness. These cities will work to set an achievable goal to address street homelessness in their city by 2020 as part of the goal to help 150 cities work toward ending homelessness by 2030.

“Most importantly, they’re going to prove that it’s possible to make significant progress in ending street homelessness,” Johnson says.

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