What is Housing First?

What is Housing First?

Housing First is an approach to quickly and successfully connect individuals and families experiencing homelessness to permanent housing without preconditions and barriers to entry, such as sobriety, treatment or service participation requirements. Supportive services are offered to maximize housing stability and prevent returns to homelessness as opposed to addressing predetermined treatment goals prior to permanent housing entry.

This approach removes unnecessary barriers and assumes that supportive services are more effective in addressing needs when the individual or family is housed – when the daily stress of being homeless is taken out of the equation. This approach is highlighted in Opening Doors as a core strategy for ending homelessness.

The core components of Housing First include:

Myth vs. Fact

Myth: Housing First does not work in ending homelessness.

Fact: There is a large amount of evidence that shows implementing a Housing First strategy is an effective solution to homelessness. The Housing First model allows those experiencing homelessness to quickly access housing, which in turn allows them to be stabilized and focus on factors that may have contributed to their homelessness.

Studies have shown that Housing First is also cost effective, as those who are housed are less likely to utilize emergency services such as hospitals, jails, or emergency shelters. Decades of research prove how effective and cost-effective Housing First can be.

There is a large evidence base demonstrating the effectiveness of Housing First model. For example, one study found an average cost savings on emergency services of $31,545 per person housed in a Housing First program over the course of two years. Another study showed that a Housing First program could cost up to $23,000 less per consumer per year than a shelter program.