Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on For an EU framework for national homeless strategies based on the principle of ‘Housing First’ (own-initiative opinion)
Date: 2023-12-13
Institutions: European Economic and Social Committee
Subjects: European social policy, homelessness, housing, marginalisation, poverty, right to housing, social facilities, social integration








C_202401567EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
Series C













C/2024/1567


5.3.2024






Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on For an EU framework for national homeless strategies based on the principle of ‘Housing First’
         
(own-initiative opinion)
(C/2024/1567)







Rapporteur:



María del Carmen BARRERA CHAMORRO





Co-rapporteur:



Ákos TOPOLÁNSZKY











Plenary Assembly decision


25.1.2023




Legal basis


Rule 52(2) of the Rules of Procedure




 


Own-initiative opinion




Section responsible


Employment, Social Affairs and Citizenship




Adopted in section


21.11.2023




Adopted at plenary


13.12.2023




Plenary session No


583




Outcome of vote
(for/against/abstentions)


172/2/5




1.   Conclusions and recommendations









1.1.


The European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) welcomes the launch of the European Platform on Combatting Homelessness (EPOCH) and the European Commission’s work on homelessness. The EESC wants homelessness to remain a social policy priority for the EU in the run-up to the European elections and beyond. What is needed is a strategic shift in focus from managing homelessness to actually ending it.












1.2.


The EESC is committed to being an active EPOCH partner as one of the signatories of the Lisbon Declaration (2021) and as member of the EPOCH Steering Board.












1.3.


The EESC calls for the development of an EU homelessness strategy in which the EPOCH is fully embedded, making it possible to include national policies to combat homelessness in the European Semester exercise. This strategy should be underpinned by a Council Recommendation on homelessness. The EESC therefore calls on the Belgian Presidency of the EU to start work on a Recommendation.












1.4.


The EESC also calls on the European Commission to draft a proposal for a new multiannual work programme as soon as possible and in close collaboration with the Member States, the EU institutions and the other stakeholders. The new work programme should ideally cover the entire mandate of the incoming European Commission. The EESC calls for people with direct experiences of homelessness to be more strongly involved in EPOCH activities and governance.












1.5.


The EESC welcomes the projects financed by the Commission under the different EPOCH work streams. However, as these projects are ad hoc and time-limited, the EESC believes that the Commission should make a structural budget available for the EPOCH’s governance and recurrent activities under the Employment and Social Innovation (EaSI) programme of the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+).












1.6.


The EESC would like the EPOCH to actively promote the ‘Housing First’ principle as a systemic solution to chronic homelessness. The EESC proposes rolling out a European training programme to increase the take-up of Housing First.












1.7.


The EESC also calls on the Member States to live up to their commitment as signatories of the Lisbon Declaration to make substantial progress towards ending homelessness by 2030. To this end it is important to establish ambitious, credible and attainable milestones along the way.












1.8.


The EESC urges the Member States to develop national homelessness policies to put their Lisbon Declaration commitments into action and to integrate a Housing First approach in their national homelessness strategies.












1.9.


The EESC also calls on the Commission to continue the fight against homelessness in all relevant EU actions and strategies, including the EU Gender Equality Strategy, the EU LGBT Strategy, the EU Roma Strategic Framework, the EU Disability Strategy, the EU Child Guarantee, the EU Social Economy Action Plan, the New Pact on Migration and Asylum and the EU’s comprehensive approach to mental health.












1.10.


The EESC wants dedicated European action to encourage and support managing authorities in using the ESF+ and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) to fund housing solutions for homeless people.












1.11.


The EESC is concerned by the growing number of people with an income from work who are homeless, and would welcome European research into the scope and nature of this problem.












1.12.


The EESC is also concerned by the growing number of mobile EU citizens who are homeless, and calls on the European Labour Authority to provide guidance for Member States on how to address this problem.












1.13.


The EESC believes that the Fundamental Rights Agency should work on homelessness as a human rights issue, tackling criminalisation and penalisation of street homelessness as a priority issue.




2.   Background









2.1.


As highlighted in the Lisbon Declaration on Combatting Homelessness, homelessness is one of the most extreme forms of social exclusion, detrimentally affecting people’s physical and mental health, well-being and quality of life, as well as their access to employment and to social and economic services (1). Homelessness concerns all EU Member States and has continued to increase over the last decade.












2.2.


FEANTSA, the European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless, and the Fondation Abbé Pierre estimate that at least 895 000 people experience street homelessness or stay in a homeless shelter on any given night in the EU. The total number of sheltered and unsheltered homeless people has more than doubled over the last 15 years. The number of people who experience homelessness — including less visible forms, such as couch surfing — amounts to several million each year.












2.3.


Homelessness and poverty are inextricably linked: when economic instability increases, so too does the risk of homelessness. The COVID-19 pandemic has further increased the magnitude of homelessness in the EU. According to Caritas, between March and May 2020, the demand for food aid increased by 25-30 % in Western Europe (2). The impact of the pandemic has been particularly severe for young people. In France, since the start of the health crisis, 1 in 5 young people aged 18 to 24 have had to resort to food aid, and more than 1 in 3 fear that they will no longer be able to meet their housing expenses in 2021 (3).












2.4.


Homelessness has risen among several population groups, such as young people, women, and the LGBTIQ community. Migrants, including asylum seekers and refugees, are also increasingly affected by homelessness. The share of refugees among the EU homeless population might further increase, also due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The overrepresentation of mobile EU citizens, especially rough sleepers, is a concerning trend within the EU’s homeless population.












2.5.


The magnitude of homelessness in the EU risks becoming aggravated by the rising prices of energy across the EU, resulting in rampant energy poverty. In 2019, over 30 million Europeans claimed to be unable to afford to keep their homes adequately warm (4), and this figure might further increase as a consequence of the armed conflict in Ukraine. The rising energy prices drive up costs for tenants, often leading to eviction and potentially homelessness.












2.6.


Homelessness is not a pre-existing situation: it is the result of political and economic choices (5). A lack of adequate housing, including housing that addresses specific needs, including those related to disability, for example, is also a cause of homelessness. Regrettably, homeless people may face reduced life expectancy, health problems, discrimination, isolation and barriers to access to basic public services and benefits. It is therefore crucial that the EU, together with Member States, adopt a comprehensive policy response entailing a strategic shift from managing homelessness to ending it as a priority for a social Europe, especially within the framework of the European Pillar of Social Rights.












2.7.


Despite the available data and its consistent presence on the EU’s political agenda and on that of several Member States, homelessness remains insufficiently addressed, both at European and national levels. The lack of a truly global approach and of comprehensive strategic solutions implies that the problem of homelessness remains unsolved and is even worsening in all Member States. The European Union and its Member States should therefore put in place policies to combat homelessness that are based on the right to affordable, adequate social housing. Convergence of national policies is needed so as not to create disparities which could shift problems from one Member State to another. The EESC calls for a European strategy to combat homelessness, which will make it possible to include national policies to combat homelessness in the European Semester exercise. A European homelessness strategy should be launched in the coming period to tackle homelessness in a united and coordinated way, with the aim of making substantial progress diminishing it by 2030 and then eradicating it within a defined target period.












2.8.


Progress should also be made at European level to further strengthen the collection of statistical data to support policy-makers. More reliable data on the multifaceted nature of homelessness, including youth homelessness, is needed, which would allow a better analysis of the factors that influence this situation and for a systematic comparison and monitoring at EU level. This could be an important tool to be included in the future European strategy to eradicate homelessness.












2.9.


The EESC believes in putting the people concerned at the centre of policies, encouraging their participation to develop their power to act.




3.   General comments









3.1.


Homelessness is an issue of growing concern in the EU and affects millions of people every year. Member States face growing pressure due to the energy crisis, house price inflation, and constrained public resources to meet housing needs for vulnerable groups who are exposed to housing exclusion and face intersectional vulnerabilities, and are therefore more exposed to becoming homeless.












3.2.


In June 2021, the Portuguese Presidency of the EU launched the EPOCH with the support of the Commission. The Lisbon Declaration, which is the political basis for the EPOCH, was signed by all 27 EU Member States, the Commission, the European Parliament, the EESC, the Committee of the Regions and several European NGOs and other stakeholders. In the Declaration, the signatories committed themselves to cooperating on homelessness at EU level and to working towards ending homelessness by 2030. The signatories agreed that the housing-led approach would be the most effective way to tackle and prevent homelessness.












3.3.


The EESC reiterates the five fundamental principles of the Lisbon Declaration, and calls on Members States to ensure that:






—


no one sleeps rough for lack of accessible, safe and appropriate emergency accommodation;










—


no one lives in emergency or transitional accommodation longer than is required to successfully transition to a permanent housing solution;










—


no one is discharged from any institution (e.g. prison, hospital or care facility) without an offer of appropriate housing;










—


evictions are prevented whenever possible, and no one is evicted without assistance for an appropriate housing solution, when needed;










—


no one is discriminated against due to their homeless status.
















3.4.


The EESC also reiterates that the Lisbon Declaration states that national, regional and local authorities should promote the prevention of homelessness, access to permanent housing and the provision of enabling support services to the homeless.












3.5.


The committed role played by the EPOCH needs to be fostered to serve a dedicated European policy framework for making progress in the fight against homelessness. It now has a governance structure and a multiannual work programme. The three work streams of EPOCH are: collecting data and steering/monitoring policy progress; mutual learning; and access to EU funding and financing opportunities. The EESC welcomes the coordinating role of the OECD, FEANTSA and the Council of Europe Development Bank in the respective work streams.




4.   Specific comments


Homelessness









4.1.


Homelessness is a complex phenomenon. Although the EU Member States have varying definitions of homelessness, there is a growing consensus that homelessness is a dynamic reality that does not only concern people living on the streets. This is addressed in FEANTSA’s ETHOS definition (European Typology of Homelessness and Housing Exclusion), which includes rough sleepers, people staying in homeless shelters or women’s refuges (both for emergency and long-term accommodation), people very insecurely housed, such as those about to be released from an institution with no place to go to, or couch surfers, as well as people very inadequately housed, such as those living in houses declared uninhabitable and those without any rights to their tenancies.












4.2.


The population affected by homelessness is diverse. The majority is male and middle-aged; however, women, young people, families and children also form part of the homeless population. The growing number of migrants and those from minority ethnic backgrounds among the homeless is an issue of concern, with certain groups deserving of more specific attention, such as LGBTIQ people, people living with disabilities, and the ageing homeless. The EESC underlines that appropriate policies should be designed for each specific target group with the participation of those experiencing homelessness.












4.3.


Homelessness has increased over the last decade in most Member States and in the EU as a whole. Estimates from FEANTSA show that the number of sheltered and unsheltered homeless, which is only part of the homeless population, more than doubled over the last 15 years. Finland is the only country that has managed to reduce homelessness consistently over the last two decades. Denmark and Austria seem to have reversed the rising trend of homelessness. These countries’ methods should be studied to determine how they managed to reverse this trend and to look for possibilities for progress.












4.4.


The causes of homelessness are multiple and can be structural, institutional or personal. Tackling structural causes, such as addressing policy failures, dysfunctional housing markets, house price inflation, housing finance volatility and flawed migration policies, needs to be at the core of responses to homelessness so that personal causes of homelessness, such as addiction, poor mental health and relationship breakdown, can be addressed effectively.












4.5.


Most countries are still managing homelessness with emergency responses through the shelter system rather than seeking to prevent and end homelessness by providing housing, with support if necessary. Even if homelessness is considered to be an urgent human rights violation, the human rights approach to homelessness remains underdeveloped in most countries. These practices should therefore be critically evaluated from the point of view of fundamental rights and, in the event of violations, Member States should be called on to change their practices.












4.6.


Homelessness cannot be tackled without solid, targeted prevention policies. Institutional release (from prison, psychiatric care or youth care) is a prominent entry into homelessness. Intervention should take place to ensure people are not released or discharged from institutions without access to secure housing. Efforts to prevent evictions can also be effective for avoiding homelessness. Forced displacement in connection with ‘renovictions’ and energy poverty also need to be addressed. The evidence base for targeted prevention is relatively weak, and more research and experimentation is necessary.












4.7.


Criminalisation and penalisation of street homelessness is still a widespread phenomenon, even if it often amounts to a violation of human rights. In addition, these practices exacerbate unaddressed causes of homelessness by forcing people in acute need to hide and avoid social services. Evidence shows that criminalisation and penalisation are against European law and international conventions, are ineffective interventions, and tend to be costly.




5.   Additional comments


Housing First









5.1.


Housing First uses housing as a key instrument of reintegration rather than the outcome of a reintegration process in the shelter system. It provides long-term housing to homeless people as a start, without making it conditional upon accepting support and demonstrating personal development progress. The logic behind the approach is that the stability and security that housing brings empowers homeless people to more successfully tackle their other problems, and services are more effectively and efficiently delivered to people when they are housed securely. Minimum standard-housing possibilities provided by the Member States should be considered a fundamental right and the obligation of the Member States in order to achieve the Lisbon Declaration goals by 2030. The EESC also believes that the Housing First policy approach expresses European values stemming from the Treaty, European and international conventions and the tradition of European humanism.












5.2.


There is plenty of evidence that shows that Housing First works. The housing retention rate generally exceeds 80 %, even several years after homeless people receive houses. Housing First also improves the health and well-being of homeless people. In countries with an extensive and highly professionalised shelter sector, Housing First tends to also be a cheaper approach. In countries that operate under the emergency response approach, initial investment into Housing First pays off in the long run. There is evidence that a sufficient housing supply under Housing First can be provided in combination with several housing options, like affordable private housing and social rental housing. Social rental agency models can play a key role in catering for sufficient provision.












5.3.


Housing First is an approach that is still in the development phase. The key principles are clear, and the target group is gradually widening from chronic homeless to homeless families, homeless women and homeless youth. Most EU Member States experiment with Housing First, but only a handful of countries are bringing it to scale, and are even using it as a systemic shift in the way homelessness is addressed. The EESC therefore believes there is a crucial need to develop a European strategy (and consequently Member State framework programmes with cooperation at different levels: local, regional, national and European) on homelessness with a Housing First focus. We also need to promote social economy structures that provide essential support.












5.4.


The EU holds legislative responsibilities which, in given cases, as a negative external effect, might well exacerbate homelessness. Thus, recent EU legal initiatives in connection with the Green Deal need to prevent housing becoming less affordable. Some of the legal initiatives under the migration pact need to be redesigned to make access to (emergency) accommodation less cumbersome. Even now, thousands of asylum seekers sleep rough or in squats in several Members States, which is a violation of the Reception Conditions Directive (6). Other pieces of EU legislation (e.g. the Payment Accounts Directive (7) and the Drinking Water Directive (8)) grant rights specifically to homeless people. Both these pieces of legislation are violated in several EU Member States. The EESC believes that all these issues should be included and specifically addressed in the European strategy on homelessness under a European framework to eradicate homelessness in Europe before 2030.












5.5.


The EU has limited competences to address homelessness. However, in the framework of the open method of coordination, the EU can support Member States through transnational mutual learning, comparative research and data collection, and by monitoring policy progress and securing access to EU funds and financing opportunities. The EU has played an important role, especially in the new Member States, in developing the quality of services and in piloting initiatives that apply a Housing First or a housing-led approach for select target groups, based primarily on European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) and Fund for European Aid to the Most Deprived (FEAD). Monitoring successful pilot projects in the European Semester’s country-specific reviews and recommendations can help scale these up.












5.6.


The Housing First approach needs further support, including medical and social services, to help pull people out of homeless situations. There is also a need for specialised care, such as dedicated retirement homes and targeted care, for older homeless people with medical needs, for example. To further the knowledge and tools needed to fight homelessness, such as Housing First, the Commission should further research homelessness and collect disaggregated data.






Brussels, 13 December 2023.


The President of the European Economic and Social Committee

Oliver RÖPKE
            





(1)  Lisbon Declaration on the European Platform on Combatting Homelessness, 21 June 2021.

(2)  Escala de la pobreza — Coronavirus en Europa: largas filas para pedir bolsas de comida, otra postal de la pandemia [Scale of Poverty — Coronavirus in Europe: long queues for food aid, another sign of the pandemic], Clarin Mundo, 16 May 2020.

(3)  Ipsos survey of 1 000 people exclusively carried out for the Foundation Abbé Pierre, 14 and 15 January 2021.

(4)  https://institutdelors.eu/en/publications/europe-needs-a-political-strategy-to-end-energy-poverty/.

(5)  Opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee on ‘The problem of homelessness’ (OJ C 24, 28.1.2012, p. 35).

(6)  Directive 2013/33/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 June 2013 laying down standards for the reception of applicants for international protection (OJ L 180, 29.6.2013, p. 96).

(7)  Directive 2014/92/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 23 July 2014 on the comparability of fees related to payment accounts, payment account switching and access to payment accounts with basic features (OJ L 257, 28.8.2014, p. 214).

(8)  Directive (EU) 2020/2184 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 16 December 2020 on the quality of water intended for human consumption (OJ L 435, 23.12.2020, p. 1).


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/1567/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)