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A 'radical' approach of tackling homelessness in Spain: give every person living on the street a home - (video, 8 min) (www.euronews.com)

submitted 9 months ago by 0x815@feddit.de to c/europe@feddit.de

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First developed in the US, the initiative known as Housing First, is being adopted increasingly in Europe. Unlike traditional approaches, it doesn't require individuals to meet certain criteria before receiving housing assistance. The idea is that homeless individuals have a higher chance of creating a brighter future for themselves if they first have a roof over their heads.

Carlos Martínez Carrasco lived rough for several years before a Housing First initiative provided him with a flat on the outskirts of Madrid.

He told Real Economy that the flat has changed his life in every way: "I no longer lack the things that you do when you’re on the street and I can cook. I don’t have to find a way to wash clothes... I can go out with the peace of mind that I have a place to come back to. I am very happy today."

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[–] ininewcrow@lemmy.ca 49 points 9 months ago (3 children)

Society always pay for the homeless, regardless if the homeless are given homes or not.

Don't give them homes .... society gets to pay for more policing, more security, more judicial, more emergency health, more social problems.

Give them homes ... No it doesn't create a Utopia but with the money saved in less policing, less security, less judicial, less emergency health, the savings are used to pay for a home.

So go ahead be a right winger or a left winger, no matter how you cut it, we all pay for the homeless no matter what we do. It's just that one solution is compassionate and one is not.

If you want to argue the Christian way, than ...

‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’”

Matthew 25:40

[–] grue@lemmy.world 18 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I'm a leftist because I'm a fiscal conservative. It doesn't take compassion (which is just as well, because frankly I'm not all that compassionate); it just takes not being so vindictive that you want to pay extra to persecute the poor to keep them down on purpose.

[–] taladar@feddit.de 22 points 9 months ago (1 children)

You can apply the same view to e.g. healthcare. It is a lot cheaper to pay for preventative healthcare for everyone than to deal with health issues once they get to the point where they become unbearable.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 17 points 9 months ago

You can apply it to a whole bunch of "socialist" ideas, up to and including UBI.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

It doesn’t create a utopia and many will treat the houses poorly. But they’ll live indoors and you’ll never have to ask if you might wind up homeless if everything goes wrong.

On a selfish level I support social programs as a form of poverty insurance.

[–] essellburns@beehaw.org 0 points 9 months ago

Wow. That Jesus had quite an ego.

[–] Wermhatswormhat@lemmy.world 25 points 9 months ago (2 children)

This will never work. When they just give houses to people who are homeless how will we know who’s homeless and who isn’t.

/s this is great. I wish the US Would follow suit.

[–] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 17 points 9 months ago (2 children)

I was furious at you for a brief moment, haha.

Every time a town in the states does this or a city or a country anywhere, it works.

people have the few weeks of time they need to regularly clean themselves and get a job which leads to income coming in, and they can get transportation which provides opportunity, and so on and so forth.

I love it every time I hear about a housing solution working because they finally stripped away all the b******* and just gave people houses.

[–] Wermhatswormhat@lemmy.world 9 points 9 months ago

I hear you. These are people too. It’s amazing how much farther they can make it with a simple shower and a good nights rest. Seeing other places implement policies like this give me hope, even if it’s only a little bit.

[–] pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online -2 points 9 months ago (2 children)

That helps for the homeless who are people that are just down on their luck, but it won't solve the issue for those who are chronically homeless due to mental illness and/or drugs.

Idk what the statistics are for Europe, but 60-80% of the chronically homeless in the US fall into that category.

Homelessness is a very complex issue, and while it gets better if housing is provided, it won't solve the issue.

[–] Varyk@sh.itjust.works 4 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

The number of addicted people or people with mental health issues is closer to 30%, it might seem higher to you because you notice those people more.

https://unitedtoendhomelessness.org/blog/myth-most-homeless-people-are-either-mentally-ill-or-have-a-substance-use-disorder/

Things get much better if housing is provided since most people just don't have a home, so let's start there.

It depends on which EU country you're talking about, the ones that provide support for addicts reduce their addicted population, the ones that provide housing reduce their homeless population, the ones that provide mental health services reduce their mentally ill population.

Just like in the US, and everywhere else these programs are implemented.

UBI and comprehensive social support are the obvious solutions to most of these problems, and a historically work, so I take every new properly made social program as a success, especially if they are continued after they prove their worth.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago (1 children)

That’s true, but it will give even them an important baseline improvement. You aren’t fixing all their problems but you’re fixing a huge problem that all of them have

[–] pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online 1 points 9 months ago (1 children)

The problem is that, in general, housing for the homeless has sobriety requirements. Same with shelters. Many people who are chronically on the streets are there because they won't or can't quit, or because they literally can't operate in society because of their illness, not because there's a lack of resources available to them.

The two changes that would have the greatest impact would be massively increased funding to mental hospitals and drug rehab centers. That would house the majority of chronically homeless while hopefully helping to fix what caused it to begin with.

I do want to reiterate that I'm not talking about people who are homeless because life got rough for a bit and need a breather to recoup. They would absolutely benefit from being given housing.

But, those people aren't who are typically being discussed when the topic of homelessness comes up.

[–] captainlezbian@lemmy.world 4 points 9 months ago

Those are good points and my attitude is to generally oppose sobriety requirements or at least create sobriety optional housing as well and to aggressively fund rehabs. It’s a lot easier to decide to get sober and to stick with it when you don’t live outside. I additionally strongly support community based mental health treatment and funding more research into humane and effective treatments for the sorts of psychological issues that can lead to homelessness and addiction. We know some things, but I think it’s not controversial to say we would benefit from more understanding on how to best help people like this.

Mental illness fucking sucks as does addiction. Mental hospitals can be amazing or they can be torturous and so I’m always worried about them but I also understand that they are needed

[–] NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 2 points 9 months ago (1 children)

First developed in the US, the initiative known as Housing First [...]

[–] tryptaminev@feddit.de 3 points 9 months ago

It is only applied in a very limited amount of states or even cities in the US. Meanwhile there is many more that just criminalize homleseness, make public spaces more difficult for homeless people to exist in and all the while make it easier for landlords to kick tenants out or raise rent into absurdity and then kick them out.

[–] AI_toothbrush@lemmy.zip 15 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Some people dont have homes. Give them homes. Everyone has homes🤯🤯🤯

[–] occhineri@feddit.de 3 points 9 months ago

Rocket science

[–] kool_newt@lemm.ee 12 points 9 months ago

This reduces the threat of failure capitalists depend on for effective exploitation.

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 2 points 9 months ago

This is the best summary I could come up with:

In this episode of Real Economy, Euronews Reporter Paul Hackett discovers how providing the homeless with housing as a starting point rather than an end goal, is transforming lives and fast becoming a long-term solution.

Carlos Martínez Carrasco lived rough for several years before a Housing First initiative provided him with a flat on the outskirts of Madrid.

Two NGOs, Provivienda and Hogar Si, co-manage several Housing First initiatives in Spain, including the one that gave Carlos a home in Madrid.

Every EU member state has committed to spend at least 25% of its ESF+ resources on tackling social inclusion and at least 3% on addressing material deprivation.

The European Platform on Combating Homelessness is also working hard to bring about change while the Housing First Europe Hub, established in 2016 by Finland's Y-Foundation and FEANTSA, seeks to give every person living on the street a home.

Progress in the current economic context won’t be easy, but evidence shows with the right policies and incentives, change is possible.

The original article contains 516 words, the summary contains 167 words. Saved 68%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] nyakojiru@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 8 months ago

That's a good idea for me to have a home for real since the taxes, low salaries, high living costs makes it impossible. I will become homeless, thank you.

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