4 messages for the new European Platform on Combatting Homelessness

On Monday 21 June 2021, all 27 Member States as well as representatives of EU institutions, civil society organisations, social partners and cities signed the “Lisbon Declaration on the European Platform on Combatting Homelessness”, committing to ending homelessness by 2030. 

Whilst URBACT ROOF network applauds the crucial work of the Portuguese Presidency on homelessness and the launch of the European Platform, the 9 cities forming the network also urge the EU and Member States to provide sufficient resources in 4 critical areas:

1. Produce an EU Homelessness Strategy that connects tackling homelessness to decent adequate Affordable Housing Policies
2. Provide solid and comparable European data on homelessness including the implementation and outcomes of Housing First/Led
3. Promote Housing First/Led as one of the solutions to end Homelessness in all Members States
4. Clearly identify and allocate the relevant EU structural and Investments funds to tackle homelessness and expand affordable housing stock

Read ROOF’s letter to Minister Godinho, Commissioner Schmit, Mr Leterme, Katarina Ivanković-Knežević here.

Congratulations @FEANTSA @FreekSpinnewij1! Years of hard work paying off! @URBACTROOF @URBACT enthousiastic to offer insights of our partner cities and collaborate on the future Action Plan of the Platform on combatting homelessness #endinghomelessness #bettercities https://t.co/AAiHXfuDvL

— ROOF (@URBACTROOF) June 21, 2021

ROOF involves European cities in peer-learning, sharing knowledge and co-designing local action plans about the implementation of Housing First/Led, other housing solutions and better data collection on homelessness. The cities of ROOF are Ghent (BE) – Lead Partner, Braga (PT), Glasgow (UK), Liège (BE), Odense (DK), Poznań (PL), Toulouse Métropole (FR), Thessaloniki (EL), Timişoara (RO).

To find out more about ROOF, visit https://urbact.eu/roof or https://right2housing.eu/no-one-left-behind/