Housing First

There is an important story to be told about the Pathways Housing First program in New York City. This extremely influential program provides lessons about systems change related to services for homeless people with serious mental illness. Particularly interesting is the uptake of Housing First across North America, Europe, and Australia. This engaging book is a 'must read' for those interested in how Housing First can transform housing and treatment services for people with mental illness. --Geoffrey Nelson, PhD, Professor of Psychology, Wilfrid Laurier University Theory, evidence, and experience ground this compelling story of how Housing First has transformed services for persons who are homeless across many countries and contexts. --Paula Goering, PhD, RN, University of Toronto This book is an excellent account of the historic breakthrough of the Housing First approach all over the [developed] world. It explains not only how, but also why Housing First has proven to be the adequate and most effective approach to end homelessness for people with complex support needs. The homes created by Housing First programs offer ontological security to the formerly homeless tenants, a term which has been fruitfully used by Deborah Padgett to mark the essential advantages of the Housing First approach. From the beginning the basis for constancy, daily routines, privacy and identity construction is provided, a stable platform for a less stigmatized and more normalized life. --Prof. Dr. Volker Busch-Geertsema, senior research fellow of GISS-institute, Bremen, Germany and coordinator of the European Observatory on Homelessness This book provides a broad history and framing of homelessness in the United States in which the housing first idea was developed. This was especially helpful for me as I was late into the homeless arena with very little understanding of homelessness, homeless research, Federal funding for homeless programs, and various organizational approaches. Even though I had gained some understanding of homelessness the last ten years, this book pulled together a clearer picture of homelessness and the expansion of the housing first approach nationally and internationally. --Lloyd S. Pendleton, Former Director, Homeless Task Force, State of Utah It is not often that social policy begets a compelling success story. But in this book, Padgett and her coauthors tell how the Housing First movement to end homelessness arose from the striking confluence in the voices of disadvantaged people seeking dignified housing choice, a human rights perspective among service providers, and research-based evidence. That combination of forces has driven an international effort to reshape the social response to homelessness, with resounding successes. The story told here sets out the challenge for homelessness efforts world-wide, and indeed the way social welfare policy should be shaped more broadly. --Dennis P. Culhane, PhD, Dana and Andrew Stone Chair of Social Policy, University of Pennsylvania