This Guidebook entitled “How to develop a holistic approach” stems from the social experiment led within the Rights First project, co-funded by the EU Commission under its EasI programme (FSE+) and the Government of Brussels Region (from January 2022 to June 2024). The main outcome was the development of an holistic approach overseeing homeless people’s specific needs by implementing innovative, cohesive and sustainable solutions with competent public authorities aiming for the rehabilitation of social rights, finding housing solutions and get back into the labour market, in view of ending homelessness in Brussels. The creation of partnerships is the outcome’s backbone to lifting people out of the street. This project was mentored by two european partners, Uk Crisis and San Joan de Deu, both having already set up a holistic approach in their work.

This guidebook holds examples of partnerships from the three projects, providing different ways to what could be a holistic approach. The first section highlights the partnerships aiming for the rehabilitation of rights. The second focuses on sustainable partnerships for housing and employment support. The last section revolves around the governance possibilities to monitor partnerships and evaluate their impact.

• RIGHTS FIRST’s toolboxes offer practices usable by all partners when needed.
  The Rights First project reviews the possibility of restoring social-welfare rights of homeless people in irregular administrative situations in Brussels, to empower them to achieve their life goals in Belgium. The project is based on 3 main principles: access to the minimum income, housing and employment solutions. It is a unique opportunity to reconsider ongoing process of coaching vulnerable people as well as policies to facilitate access to social rights. Social workers from the field often point at the slowness of services at all levels and the complexity of the steps to be taken to regain a decent living situation. The aim is to simplify people’s administrative situation so that they can receive an income and find housing or a new job as soon as possible.

• SKYLIGHT built a holistic approach within its specialised departments.
  Crisis has 9 Skylight Centres offering direct support to people experiencing or at risk of homelessness across England, Scotland and Wales. All Crisis Skylights are focused on finding sustainable ways to end homelessness for their members, working to housing led principles starting with securing decent homes as we know for most people the best solution to homelessness will be accessing their own home as quickly as possible. Including staff supporting members to navigate the systems and processes in place so that they can access the services and support they need, and that they have a right to benefit from.  

• INSULA’s holistic approach is an alliance between partners each providing their own expertise. 
  The Insula project was created in 2018 based on a common reflection and alliance between four organizations working for the most vulnerable people in social and residential exclusion situations in Barcelona (Càritas Diocesana de Barcelona, Fundació Mambré, Fundació Formació i Treball and Sant Joan de Déu Social Services Barcelona). Insula project considers that homelessness is not only a ‘right to housing access’ problem but also a set of vulnerabilities that configure situations of social exclusion that make a holistic approach necessary. The support offered through the Insula project not only provides housing solutions but also is aimed to promote autonomy and empower people, especially families in a situation of residential exclusion providing specified support in different areas:  housing, social, employment, health, legal aid. 

Points of attention: 

Right based approach   

Despite of having international and national laws providing social protection and given the increasing number of homeless people, it is worth asking to what extent social protection contributes to lift people out of the street and to what extent it contributes to combat social exclusion. In terms of accessing social rights, the non-take up phenomenon is a perfect demonstration of people not having access to their rights while being eligible. Studies have highlighted multiple possibilities: 

• They may or may not be aware of their rights: they don’t know about the existence of their rights or they are aware but choose not to ask for them.
• They may or may not perceive their rights: either they have not been informed of their rights or they are no longer eligible for their rights. 

An integrated approach  

The integrated approach has proven to be efficient in finding solutions to combat and prevent homelessness. 

Developing an integrated approach combined with a human rights-based approach in view of lifting people out of the street through requires taking into account the following: 

• The integrated approach provides a structural framework for homelessness service providers to jointly respond to homeless people’s specific needs. 
• Dealing with individuals facing their own vulnerabilities, time is of essence to avoid their situation worsening.:
• Multiple stakeholders such as private and public organizations as well as civil society must be involved.

The dilemma within an integrated approach is to achieve a collective objective while each situation is treated differently based on people’s vulnerabilities and aspirations. It articulates the combination of a common goal, a multidisciplinary working methodology between partners while customizing solutions for homeless people.

In a multi-governance context  

As a societal problem, homelessness is impacted by health, social, economic and migration policies to not name them all. In a multi-governance context, this can be a challenge in aligning the urgency to help someone in need with rather bureaucratical procedures. 

At the national level, policy making, and policy implementation can be supervised at different levels. Issues regarding competences, territoriality and decision-making must be processed together. However, this diversity may compromise the coordination of these processes in terms of efficiency and efficacity and thus impacting directly homeless people not in the best ways. The European Union fully integrates multi-governance as well. European policies also impact homelessness at local level, particularly when European mobile citizens seek new job opportunities in another European country than theirs.