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BUILDING COMMUNITY THROUGH RELATIONSHIP

Housing: Housing First

Housing First programs are an approach to ending homelessness that center on providing homeless people with housing quickly and then providing services as needed. What differentiates a Housing First approach from traditional emergency shelter or transitional housing approaches is that it is "housing-based," with an immediate and primary focus on helping individuals and families quickly access and sustain permanent housing.

"Housing First" is an approach that guides a set of interventions designed to help homeless people transition more rapidly out of the shelter system. It includes crisis intervention, re-housing of families and individuals as quickly as possible, follow-up case management, time-limited or long-term services (depending upon individual need), and housing support services (assisting in compliance with a standard lease agreement) to prevent the reoccurrence of homelessness.

While all Housing First programs share these critical elements, program models vary significantly depending upon the population served. For people who have experienced chronic homelessness, there is an expectation that intensive (and often specialized) services will be needed indefinitely. Homeless individuals and families that have experienced a housing or personal crisis that led them to seek help from the homeless shelter system may not need continuous services.

AUTHOR: Power, Asetha (2008) Homeless Hub.