Scaling up Housing First-Pilots – Drivers and Barriers

There has been an increased interest in Housing First services in Sweden over the past few years. The model was first developed in New York by the organization Pathways to Housing. The growing interest for Housing First as a response to ending long-term homelessness is seen not only in the US and Canada, but also in Europe. One reason for this is the bulk of evidence showing high housing retention rates in Housing First services compared with traditional services. This paper aims to analyse the drivers and barriers that hinders or facilitates the scaling up of Housing First-pilots. One of the research questions is, if it is possible to incorporate lessons learned from the Housing First-pilot into the existing system of homelessness services. In other words – is it possible to put new wine into old bottles? This is an on-going research project on Housing First-services in Sweden, with the specific focus on the Housing First-pilot in the city of Helsingborg. The empirical material consists of in-depth interviews with project managers, support workers and other stakeholders. We intend to present some tentative results of how the principles of Housing First can be implemented within the social housing program. We also intend to describe some of the key factors necessary for scaling up Housing First-pilots.