World Habitat launches new Central and Eastern European Homelessness ExChange

Our vision is a world where street homelessness is prevented from happening, and if it does occur is rare, brief, and non-recurring. This week, World Habitat launches a new strand of work within the European End Street Homelessness Campaign (EESHC) working with a cohort of cities in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) to accelerate their work towards ending street homelessness.

We have recruited new partners in CEE where the challenges are greater, resources fewer and there is less international focus. However, after 6 years of the EESHC, we know that achieving a sustainable pathway towards reducing street homelessness must be achieved through secure housing-led solutions.

Our mission is to act as a catalyst for change in CEE, ensuring that best practice from within the region and across the EESHC is shared with countries with some of the most challenging housing contexts.

By the end of 2023 we aim to have:

• Developed a clear evidence base for housing-led solutions in CEE
• Collated and shared best practice from across the region to influence policy
• Worked with CEE partners to develop and implement a clear plan for sustainable path to reduce homelessness
• Supported CEE partners to pilot or grow housing-led solutions, such as Housing First

Ella Hancock (Programme Manager), leading this work says ‘World Habitat is committed to tackling housing injustice across the world, particularly in places where the need is greatest. Our experience of hosting the EESHC has shown that the solutions to street homelessness exist, but not everywhere has the resources to implement them.

I’m delighted to launch the CEE homelessness exChange in Budapest this week, featuring housing advocates from Slovakia, Croatia, Romania and Hungary. It will enable the sharing of best practice among a targeted cohort of campaign partners – and provide valuable space for regional expertise and focus on their collective mission of ending street homelessness.’