The Guide is the first European resource of its kind. As Housing First has taken off in Europe, a growing demand has emerged for knowledge and expertise. Until now, much of the available material has come from North America. There was a need for practical guidance bringing together existing knowledge and experience on doing Housing First in European contexts. That’s why we created this Guide. It complements similar manuals developed in the US (Tsemberis 2010) and Canada (Canadian Housing First Toolkit).

Who is the Guide for?

The Guide is for people who want to know more about what Housing First means and how it works in Europe. It aims to support practitioners and policy makers who are implementing, or interested in developing, Housing First. Users of the Guide will include managers and frontline staff of homeless services; people working in related sectors such as health and housing; national and local policy-makers; researchers; people with experience of homelessness and other stakeholders.

Who produced the Guide?

FEANTSA, the European Federation of National Organisations working with the Homeless, has coordinated the production of the Guide thanks to funding from the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. An Advisory Board of experts from different disciplines and countries supported the creation of written and audio-visual materials. The Guide was discussed by additional experts in a range of focus groups involving practitioners and service users. Over a two year period, we reached out to a wide variety of stakeholders to provide input into the Guide.