A new guiding philosophy to end the housing crisis will be developed from a pioneering homelessness pilot.
According to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, this comes following a model adopted in Finland, which saw Housing First become a national approach to ending the housing crisis. The Housing First pilot in Greater Manchester helped more than 400 people into their own homes, leading to the Mayor outlining his intentions to follow the Finnish model of making it a widespread philosophy.
Housing First focuses on how a good home is integral to having a good life, with health, education and jobs all growing from the starting point of a home. With this in mind, lessons will be learnt from the pilot and a new Housing First Unit will be established to end the housing crisis in Greater Manchester.
This Housing First Unit will focus on three main priorities:
- Supply – Making sure that enough new homes are built to match the city region’s needs
- Standards – Protecting renters and taking action against bad housing
- Support – Transforming how residents are supported with health and wellbeing services
Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham:
“Following the second report from the Grenfell Inquiry, it is abundantly clear that a sea change is needed in the way Britain thinks about housing.
“Rather than a money-making opportunity or just a commodity to be bought and sold, we need to see housing as an essential service. Giving everyone a good, safe home would be one of the best investments the country could make, and would take pressure off other public services and public finances. We are ready to pilot this approach in Greater Manchester and become the first UK city region to adopt a Finnish-style Housing First philosophy.
“The evidence is clear that it works, and when a pilot scheme gets results it shouldn’t end there – it should become the new normal. Housing First has shown that if you give people an unconditional right to safe and secure housing, backed up with personalised support, you set them up to succeed.
“Instead of winding it down, we should be scaling it up and turning it into a national mission – and we’re starting that here in Greater Manchester. We’re bringing in new protections for renters, tackling bad landlords, and with the right powers and funding, we can deliver 75,000 new homes in this parliament.
“Our new Housing First Unit will drive this work forward, bringing together partners across our city region with a clear goal: a healthy home for everyone in Greater Manchester by 2038.
“The growing cost of not solving the housing crisis – both on our communities and on the public purse – is plain to see.”
This comes as the Mayor addressed a conference of experts in housing and homelessness policy, including a delegation from Finland. Jukka Slukosaari, Finnish Ambassador to the UK, also said:
“Finland launched its own Housing First model in 2007, and since then long-term homelessness in the country has fallen significantly, by almost 70 per cent.
“Our nation has succeeded in going against the trend by actually decreasing the number of people without a place to live. This result is a proof of the importance of the home as a starting point when we help people rebuild their lives.
“The Embassy of Finland is delighted to co-organize this event together with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority. I am happy to be able to share some lessons we have learned in Finland about finding solutions to homelessness, an issue that countries in Europe and all over the world are working to solve.”
Image credit: iStock
Video credit: Greater Manchester Combined Authority
