The Book on Ending Homelessness provides insights for those in the industry, elected officials, policy makers, funders, public servants and the general public on the best ways to move from managing homelessness to ending homelessness. While ending homelessness may seem to be a whacky or even preposterous idea, Iain De Jong takes more than two decades of experience as an award winning industry leader to lay out how and why homelessness can be ended in very practical ways. This book will provoke and teach, serving as both inspiration and an instruction manual for those serious about combatting one of the most important social issues of our time. The book will reshape how you think about homelessness, as well as how strategies like sheltering, street outreach and day services all play a role in ending homelessness when operated with a housing-focused lens and the right service orientation. No doubt the book will reassure some that their thinking and actions regarding homelessness are bang on, while challenging others to think and respond differently in what they do and how they invest their money. Many of the ideas in the book elaborate upon ideas that Iain shares in his blog, keynote speeches and conference presentations, as well as the training series that Iain and his team have been offering for the past decade. If you are involved in homelessness issues or concerned about homelessness, this book is essential reading.

Chronic homelessness is a highly complex social problem of national importance. The problem has elicited a variety of societal and public policy responses over the years, concomitant with fluctuations in the economy and changes in the demographics of and attitudes toward poor and disenfranchised citizens. In recent decades, federal agencies, nonprofit organizations, and the philanthropic community have worked hard to develop and implement programs to solve the challenges of homelessness, and progress has been made. However, much more remains to be done. Importantly, the results of various efforts, and especially the efforts to reduce homelessness among veterans in recent years, have shown that the problem of homelessness can be successfully addressed. Although a number of programs have been developed to meet the needs of persons experiencing homelessness, this report focuses on one particular type of intervention: permanent supportive housing (PSH). Permanent Supportive Housing focuses on the impact of PSH on health care outcomes and its cost-effectiveness. The report also addresses policy and program barriers that affect the ability to bring the PSH and other housing models to scale to address housing and health care needs.

Homelessness prevention is an essential element of any effort to end homelessness either locally or nation-wide. To close the front door of entry into homelessness, the central challenge of prevention is targeting our efforts toward those people that will become homeless without the intervention. This book identifies elements of community homelessness prevention strategies that seem to lead to reductions in the number of people who otherwise would become homeless. The contributing elements include targeting through control of the eligibility screening process; developing community motivation; maximising mainstream and private resources; fostering leadership; and ensuring the availability and structure of data and information used to track progress, improve on prevention efforts, and facilitate outcome-based contracting. Evidence from the six communities studied indicates that those employing the most elements seem to be more successful at prevention and better able to document their achievements. This book also identifies four promising homelessness prevention activities that may be used alone or in combination as part of a coherent community-wide strategy: (1) supportive services coupled with permanent housing, particularly when combined with effective discharge from institutions, especially mental hospitals; (2) mediation in Housing Courts; (3) cash assistance for rent or mortgage arrears; and (4) rapid exit from shelter. This study provides insight into approaches that will help prevent homelessness. It is an important contribution to our understanding of how to help homeless Americans.

This important text provides a comprehensive survey of homelessness in America: its scope and causes, its diverse populations, and the array of responses at the individual, community, and systems levels. Expert contributors explore the links between trauma and homelessness, the cycle of homelessness and health/mental health problems, and barriers preventing people from accessing services. Case studies of effective programs and practices focus on science-based interventions, broad understanding of client needs, and close coordination between systems and agencies. Finally, specialized chapters discuss issues and experiences common to homeless youth and young adults, including housing instability on college campuses and empowerment-based strategies for engaging youth voice in programming . Included in the coverage: Homelessness and health disparities: a health equity lens Affordable housing and housing policy responses to homelessness Street talk: homeless discourses and the politics of service provision Multisectoral collaborations to address homelessness Trauma-informed care in homelessness service settings: challenges and opportunities Incorporating youth voice into services for young people experiencing homelessness Homelessness Prevention and Intervention in Social Work fills a critical gap in the social work curriculum as a main or a supplementary text. It also makes an accessible resource for clinicians and community practitioners seeking current knowledge on the topic, practical approaches to working with clients experiencing homelessness, and useful information for effective program and policy design.

Available open access under CC-BY-NC license. Homelessness is unequivocally devastating. In the UK, people affected by homelessness are ten times more likely to die than their peers in the general population, yet we still miss important opportunities to adequately address the issue. The Centre for Homelessness Impact brings together this urgent book gathering the insights and experiences of leaders in government, academia and the third sector to present new evidence-based strategies to end homelessness. Demonstrating why and how a new movement is needed that embraces data and evidence as integral to ending homelessness effectively, this book provides crucial methods to underpin future policy, practice and funding decisions.

The causes of homelessness are disputed by both Right and Left. But, few would argue that life on the streets is anything other than dangerous and debilitating. Unemployment, deinstitutionalisation, abuse in the home are among the stories the homeless tell. Voluntary organisations point to the failure of emergency shelters and food banks, the cut-backs in social programmes and the severe shortage of affordable housing. On the international scale, the changing global system has placed new demands on the economies of Europe and north America which have impacted on resources, employment and even political will. This book is the first comprehensive international study of homelessness. The author argues that the category of the homeless must itself be broadened, to encompass those chronically without shelter to those in immediate risk of dispossession, if homelessness is to be tackled effectively (before and after it happens) by public policy, voluntary organisations and the individuals themselves.