Instead of requiring homeless people to sort out their problems first, the “Housing First” model gives them a stable home straight away, with intensive support. The results in England are proving persuasive.
In the pilot projects launched in 2018 in Manchester, Liverpool and the West Midlands, which supported more than a thousand people, 92% of the participants followed up were still in permanent accommodation after 12 months. Loneliness fell from 35% to 16%, and registration with a GP rose from 60% to 92%.
In London, the Solo Homes programme run by the charity The Connection has housed eight people who had been sleeping rough for a long time, and all of them have kept their homes so far. In August, the government announced a £442 million programme to tackle the problem.
