Homelessness: Local Phenomenon with a European Dimension
- Kat Johnson
- Jun 23, 2015
- 2 min read
IGH spent last weekend in the City of Light for the annual policy conference of the European Federation of National Organisations working with the Homeless (FEANTSA). "Homelessness, A Local Phenomenon with a European Dimension—Key Steps to Connect Communities to Europe” set out to support policy and practice in homelessness across Europe.
Organizers had three goals for the two-day meeting, which convened 300 European leaders on homelessness at Paris City Hall:
Support policy and practice in the field of homelessness, with a focus on social service/policy innovation, helping practitioners to learn from other EU countries.
Link local realities to different European policy/legal frameworks, demonstrating where synergies exist already and reflect on potential synergies.
Provide space for the emergence of new transnational dynamics through organized networking hotspots.
IGH hoped to better understand the challenges European communities face addressing homelessness, and to learn solutions that might resonate with leaders in other regions. We particularly enjoyed sessions on homelessness among migrants and on building a European campaign to end street homelessness, chaired by the Building and Social Housing Foundation. Presentations on all sessions are now available here.
Panel sessions ran alongside plenaries with national and local leaders, including top government and foundation officials. Tim Richter, IGH Research Steering Committee member and President of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, addressed the group with lessons from Canada. He urged attendees toward action, cautioning: “My fear is that we wait for government to solve the problem.”
FEANTSA was established in 1989 as a European non-governmental organization to prevent and alleviate the poverty and social exclusion of people threatened by or living in homelessness. Currently more than 130 organizations are members, and FEANTSA works in close to 30 European countries, including 25 EU Member States.
We left Paris inspired by the words of Freek Spinnewijn, FEANTSA’s Director: “At a time when the [European] Commission is considering its future social policy orientation, this conference showed how vital it is to ensure that ‘Social Europe’ reaches the most vulnerable - people who are homeless.”
A full write-up of the conference is available on the FEANTSA website.
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