What is Housing First?
Housing First is a recovery-oriented approach to end homelessness developed in New York in the early 90s by Dr. Sam Tsemberis and his agency Pathways to Housing. Housing becomes a priority in the process of inclusion of individuals combined with supportive treatment services based on respect for the individual and self-determination.
Principles
Housing as a basic human right
Respect, closeness and empathy
Commitment to clients and their needs
Housing in permanent, independent and scattered units
Separation between housing and services
Consumer-choice and self-determination
Orientation towards recovery
Harm reduction approach
Housing & support
Housing First programs guarantee quick access to housing and the support of a technical team that will provide comprehensive and personalized treatment. This team, that must have specialized training, will also be available 24/7. Treatment is not limited in time and is not conditional upon a pathway to insertion or the housing accommodations.
Profile
Adults
Experiencing homelessness
With psyquiatric disabilities and/or substance addictions
Requirements
The only requirements to be met by the person to enter and stay in a HF program are:
Accept a weekly visit of the support team
Provide 30% of their income (if any) for the payment of rent and supplies
Support Team
In Pathways Housing First model there are mainly two types of teams that provide services: the Assertive Community Treatment - ACT (Assertive Community Treatment) and Intensive Case Management - ICM (Intensive Case Management).
Both teams work from the same approach based on a community-based and interdisciplinary model based on commitment and self-determination. Both teams offer as flexible support and services as necessary.
| Abordaje de intervención | Técnicos que componen
el equipo |
Ratio | Perfil atendido | Trabajo en red | |
| ACT | Equipo como grupo | Enfermero/a, especialista en adicciones, peer specialist, psiquiatra, Trabajador/a social, especialistas en vivienda… | 1:10 | Trastorno de salud mental grave con o sin adicciones | Proveedores de servicios directamente |
| ICM | Profesional / usuario | Coordinador/a y gestores de casos, que pueden ser: trabajador/a social, enfermero/a, especialista en adicciones y peer specialist | 1:20 | Trastorno de salud mental moderado con o sin adicciones | Gestión y coordinación de recursos comunitarios |
What is not Housing First?
It is not a comunitary housing program
It is not a temporary housing program
Team members do not exercise control or a managerial role
