fio.PSD (Italian Federation of Bodies for the Homeless), is a democratic, nonprofit association that pursues social solidarity goals in the area of severe adult marginalization and homelessness. The federation was formed in the mid-1980s through a spontaneous and informal aggregation of social workers involved in the fight against homelessness, and it was formally established as a Federation in 1990.

fio.PSD members are agencies and/or organisms belonging to both the public and private sectors, whose work tackles severe adult marginalization and homelessness. The Federation counts more than 130 associates spread across 16 Italian regions.

fio.PSD’s goals:
• to coordinate the work of public, private and voluntary organizations tackling severe adult marginalization and homelessness in Italy;
• to raise awareness of all social partners over homelessness,
• to activate opportunities of study, mutual exchange and social research, pursuing the objective of a better understanding of the phenomenon and the elaboration of methodologies and strategies to fight against social exclusion,
• to spread best practices and the methodological knowledge of intervention through the organization of workshops, conventions, training courses and the editing of a specific and specialized publication in the field of severe adult marginalization.

fio.PSD and Housing First
Housing First arrives in Italy in 2014 thanks to the work of fio.PSD. As a matter of fact, the principles and methods of Housing First were introduced in Italy by the Federation, which initiated a process to support the first Housing First pilot projects. The aim of the course was to spread a new culture for a sustainable and inclusive social living, aimed at overcoming the problem of homelessness through innovative and experimental solutions that use the principles of Housing First.

Additionally, fio.PSD promoted the establishment of the Housing First Italy Network, established in March 2014 in Turin. It is a network of public, private and private social entities (in most cases religious and private social organizations) which have decided to experiment with the Housing First approach by following a path of accompaniment and scientific supervision, after being engaged in their territories in the fight against extreme poverty for years. Since then, a wide range of associations, social cooperatives, foundations, municipalities and public social services scattered throughout the national territory have joined.