Eradicate homelessness in Sweden

Purpose and goal

Homelessness is a complex social problem and is truly one of Sweden´s most serious societal challenges. Homelessness leads to ultimate social exclusion and poverty and affects young persons, old persons and families with children alike. Housing first has proven to be an effective approach to combat homelessness but the concept is as of now not scalable. The aim of this project was to create a model that will improve the success rate of the established Housing first concept and through this eradicate homelessness in Sweden.

Expected results and effects

Our model comprises: 1) Vänskaparna- a non-profit organization with friends that support homeless individuals 2) Vänstiftelsen - a means to provide swift economic support 3) Lobbying in favor of Housing First, engaging property owners to provide apartments and to improve the terms of the rental contracts Our ambition is that our model will both lead to increased social and economic support for the tenants in Housing First, facilitating their reestablishment in society and reduce the burden on the social services so that more people can take part in Sweden´s housing first programs.

Planned approach and implementation

The project has been executed by Lund University, via LU Open and the School of Social work, Serendipity Innovations and Forward Technologies. During the project we have collaborated with the social administrations in Malmö and Lund, individuals that have previously been homeless and that have received a home through Housing First, the department for social entrepreneurship at Humana and other future stakeholders. We have analyzed how to best complement existing Housing First initiatives and established a foundation for our model to be implemented in a pilot project this autumn.