What is Housing First and why does it work?

When Victoria became homeless, she found herself trapped in a system that wasn’t designed around her needs.

As a woman with autism, she struggled in shared accommodation and hostels. The noise, lack of privacy and constant uncertainty made it difficult to feel safe. While sleeping rough, she stayed awake for long periods to protect herself from harassment and violence. Her mental health deteriorated and she often felt alone and unsupported.

Today, Victoria lives in her own one-bedroom flat and is rebuilding her life with support from Single Homeless Project’s Housing First team. She says her mental health has already improved and she’s looking forward to a more stable future.

Victoria’s experience helps explain why Housing First has become one of the most effective approaches to ending homelessness for people facing the most complex challenges.

What is Housing First?

An approach to homelessness built on a simple idea:

Everyone deserves a home, regardless of their circumstances.

Rather than requiring someone to address issues such as mental ill health, substance use, trauma or offending behaviour before they can access permanent housing, Housing First provides a stable home first and then wraps support around the person for as long as they need it.

The approach recognises that it is much easier to tackle life’s challenges when you have a safe and secure place to live.

In traditional homelessness services, people are often expected to move through different stages of accommodation before they are considered “ready” for independent living.

Housing First turns that model on its head.

The home comes first. Everything else follows.

Where did Housing First come from?

It was developed in New York in the early 1990s by psychologist Dr Sam Tsemberis.

At the time, many homelessness services followed a “treatment first” model, which required people to address issues such as addiction or mental health problems before they could access permanent housing.

Tsemberis recognised that this approach often failed the people with the most complex needs.

His programme, Pathways to Housing, offered people immediate access to permanent homes alongside flexible, person-centred support.

The results were remarkable. People remained housed for longer, experienced better health outcomes and reported a higher quality of life.

Since then, Housing First has been adopted around the world, including in Finland, where it has helped make the country the only EU nation where homelessness is falling.

Bringing Housing First to England

Single Homeless Project was one of the organisations that helped pioneer Housing First in England.

Recognising the success of the model overseas, we introduced some of the country’s earliest Housing First services and helped demonstrate that the approach could work in a UK context.

The lessons learned from those early programmes have helped shape services across the country.

Who is Housing First for?

Housing First is not designed for everyone experiencing homelessness.

It is primarily intended for people who have experienced long periods of homelessness and are living with multiple, overlapping challenges.

This might include people experiencing:

• Severe and enduring mental ill health
• Substance use issues
• Physical health conditions
• Histories of trauma
• Domestic abuse
• Contact with the criminal justice system
• Repeated experiences of homelessness

Many people in Housing First services have been excluded from other forms of accommodation or support because their needs are considered too complex.

Housing First is specifically designed for those people.

Housing First is effective because it addresses one of the biggest barriers to recovery and stability: homelessness itself.

Without a safe place to live, it can be incredibly difficult to focus on mental health, physical wellbeing, employment, relationships or recovery.

Housing First provides:

1. Stability: A permanent home gives people security and control over their environment.
2. Choice: People have greater say over the support they receive and the goals they want to work towards.
3. Trust: Support workers build long-term relationships based on consistency rather than conditions or deadlines.
4. Dignity: People are treated as tenants with rights, responsibilities and aspirations, not as problems to be fixed.
5. Better outcomes: Evidence consistently shows that Housing First helps people sustain tenancies and reduces repeat homelessness.

What Housing First made possible for Victoria

Today, Victoria lives in her own one-bedroom flat and is rebuilding her life with the support of our team.

With the security of a permanent home and support tailored to her needs, she no longer has to focus every day on where she will sleep or how she will stay safe. Instead, she can focus on her wellbeing and what comes next.

Her experience reflects what Housing First is designed to achieve: not simply helping someone leave homelessness behind, but giving them the stability and support to move forward.

Because everyone deserves a place to call home.