How do we prevent homelessness?
A Commitment to Collaborate will bring organisations together and enable you to look for opportunities and set actions that will have the greatest impact on preventing homelessness at the earliest opportunity, including when the issue is not identified as a homelessness issue. Where homelessness does occur, there needs to be fast, effective solutions that are sustainable in the long term.
We know that the earlier we can prevent homelessness the more sustainable that prevention is. This forms an important part of the Commitment to Collaborate (C2C) approach through Designing out Homelessness.
We might describe factors that prevent homelessness as being protective factors. This includes good health, secure employment, supportive relationships and secure accommodation. These are all strong protective factors. If one is lost, there remains a good chance of avoiding homelessness, however if more than one is lost, a person can be at an increased risk. The C2C model identifies and enhances universal protective factors and targets homelessness prevention at the earliest possible opportunity. The model helps understanding and thinking to identify what is already being done to prevent homelessness, where the gaps are, and what might be done to address those gaps.
The causes of homelessness and therefore the opportunities to prevent it can be viewed too narrowly, or too close to the crisis point (the most recent factor) rather than the original or root cause. It is likely that other factors may contribute to some experiences of homelessness, such as:
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loss of employment
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poor physical or mental health
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a relationship breakdown or bereavement.
All of these factors occur within universal** provision where the broadest form of prevention is possible. It can be affected by those working both within and outside of the homelessness sector.
**Definition: ‘This is what prevents homelessness without having any directly perceived relationship to homelessness prevention: those things in society and life that are protective factors. In health terms universal prevention is having fluoride in water, health advice to eat ‘five a day’, and immunisations; in homelessness terms it is those factors which support and protect – health, income, relationships, secure accommodation, amongst many others