Conclusion

Chapter 7 draws together some of the lessons that can be learned from the experiences of three small European countries in responding to homelessness. It is clear that responses to homelessness are embedded and enmeshed in the political and administrative culture of the individual countries, particularly the role of the state, both centrally and locally, in the provision of housing, welfare, and social services. Homelessness cannot be responded to as a separate issue from this broader context, and this is particularly the case in Finland and Ireland, where the roles of the state and market are understood very differently.

The strategies described

Chapter 3 provides a detailed description of the strategies to end homelessness. The strategies of the three countries were published within a relatively short period of each other. The Finnish strategy was launched in February 2008, while the Irish national homeless strategy, was launched in August 2008 and the Danish strategy in October 2009. The chapter argues that the three strategies can each be seen to have distinct phases of announcement and implementation. In the case of the Finnish strategies, these build upon each other through a series of achievements and refined objectives, while in the Irish case, the strategies change considerably in format and scope, reflecting the broader economic and political crisis that engulfed the country, with the Danish strategy and succeeding programmes falling in between the other two cases.

Explanations: welfare and politics matter

The impacts of welfare policies and political choices are explored in this chapter. Comprehensive and generous welfare systems that encompass housing, health and other social services, as well as income supports, provide important buffers that lessen the likelihood that people will experience homelessness. The evidence from social democratic welfare regimes such as Denmark is that those who do experience homelessness despite such developed welfare systems tend to have a higher rate of psychosocial difficulties compared to the general population, and this is also likely to be the case in Finland. It was traditionally the case in Ireland, but has become less so in recent years.

Explanations: housing matters

Chapter 5 explores the role of Housing First and then the broader housing market, particularly social housing, in explaining the variations in outcomes described in previous chapters. The chapter argues that the scale of secure affordable housing and the targeting of those experiencing homelessness are crucial in reducing homelessness. The Irish do worse in this regard despite expending considerable amounts of public funding on the provision of social housing. This is because it largely relies on private providers to provide housing, with the gap between ability to pay and market rents made up by a housing benefit payment. Denmark retains a considerable stock of public social housing, but is facing tight housing markets in its major urban areas, particularly Copenhagen, where homelessness in concentrated. In Finland, the steady provision of secure affordable housing, coupled with a housing-led/focused response to homelessness have allowed for the provision of a significant number of secure tenancies for households experiencing homelessness.

Trends in homelessness in Denmark, Finland and Ireland

Chapter 4 outlines trends in recorded homelessness in the three countries between about 2008 and 2018. The chapter first explores in some detail how homelessness is measured in each of the three countries as the three countries use a variety of methodologies to measure homelessness and it is important that the strengths and limitations of these different approaches are understood, particularly in relation to their comparability. Having explored the full range of data on homelessness in each country, we then focus on those living rough, in emergency accommodation and in accommodation for the homeless, and data on these forms of homelessness are presented for the three countries.

Before the goal of ‘ending homelessness’: the evolution of policy

Chapter 2 provides a detailed analysis of the emergence and content of the homeless strategies in Denmark, Finland and Ireland. While all three countries had various homelessness policy statements and strategies prior to 2008, in all three cases, their 2008/09 strategies were the most ambitious, aiming to end long-term homelessness and the need to sleep rough. This chapter reviews the sequence of events that led to the radical shift in policy that aimed to end homelessness and the assumptions about the causes of homelessness in each strategy.

Ending homelessness? Policy and progress in Denmark, Finland and Ireland

This chapter provides a critique of shelter-based responses to homelessness, and the emergence of housing led solutions to homelessness. The chapter documents this shift to a nuanced and evidence-based understanding of homelessness, whereby a new and effective toolkit for ending homelessness had become available, changing the context in which policy was being developed, leading to the adoption of strategic plans to end homelessness.