employability

CATCH - Creative Approach To Combatting Homelessness

The issue of homelessness is a key issue in respect of the EU strategy to combat poverty and social exclusion. Homeless people suffer from exclusion in many different areas, such as housing, health, employment, social and cultural life etc. Policy makers often do not recognise this complexity and develop policies that are ineffective.

Enlargement will see this issue grow, given the huge disparities in GDP that are reflected in the Second Report on Social and Economic Cohesion. In the 1st phase we took stock of different creative approaches to combat homelessness in a large number of Member States and various types of organisations. Our perspective of innovative methods emerged from the needs of homeless persons focusing on improving their situation.

We discovered a need for a more integrated approach of analysing the methods/good examples presented by each city. Getting effectively to grips with homelessness demands a holistic, integrated approach to the problem that cuts across all the different levels (prevention, emergency, response, reintegration), spheres (housing, jobs, mental, physical and psychological health, etc), groups (young people, women, men, migrants, drug and alcohol abusers, etc) and their respective needs. Given, however the limitations of available funding and time scale for phase two we have identified three specific themes to further explore in terms of focussing our project:

• Re-integration in the labour market-transition actions
• Mental health strategies
• Services for Women

The general objective is to see how these methods/ good examples can be related to the improvements of the NAPs when there will be a third round to influence the National Action Plans of social exclusion.