Housing First
Kirsi Juhila, Suvi Raitakari, Johanna Ranta
Abstract
Abstract The chapter focuses on the public policy to reduce long-term homelessness in Finland, and especially on the success story of this policy starting from 2007 onwards. The year 2007 has been described as a turning point in the policy, as since then, combatting long-term homelessness in Finland had been based mainly on the idea of Housing First. The chapter presents the outset and narrative of this success story and addresses possible signs of non-success of the Finnish Housing First model. It first describes the turn of the Finnish homelessness policy towards Housing First and how it has been narrated as an accomplishment of certain key actors and constructed as a unique and internationally appreciated model. The chapter then explicates the contents and achievements of the four governmental programmes on reducing long-term homelessness (2008–2022). Finally, the level of success of the Finnish Housing First model is evaluated; depending on the viewpoint it can be described as a full success, a resilient success, or as a conflicted success (see McConnell 2010).