Summary

• Author: Applica, Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (European Commission), Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER)
• Pages: 105-105

The role of EU funds to address homelessness and housing exclusion for children and their families

105

Summary

The main purpose of the case stu dy was to exa mine the role that EU funding can play as

a stimulus to the development and roll-out of both innovative and proven kinds of

intervention addressing homelessness and housing exclusion for children and their families,

as well as how EU-funded interventions can leverage national funding and lead to improved

policies and programmes. Th e case study is based on desk research and interviews with

representatives of national authorities and NGOs.

The case study show ed that the overall strategi c and monitoring framework of EU funds

does not sp ecifically address child poverty, and in particular homelessness and housing

exclusion for chi ldren and their families. N evertheless, the FEAD targets children and

includes common indicators relating to the number of children aged 15 years or below

among recipients of support. In addition, the ESIF and FEAD support interventions

addressing the issue of homelessness, by: providing assistance for homeless people to

access mainstream servi ce provision; providin g food and other basic material assistance,

and support for pilots of housing-led approaches; and helping service providers to develop

more sustainable solutions. EU-level programmes, such as PROGRESS and EaSI, also

invest in social experimentation and mutual learning activities in the EU Memb er States.

For projects addressing homelessness, EU funding constitutes up to 85% of the total

budget. The rest is usually funded by national and/or local government and by the project

manager (e.g. municipality) or partners. However, funding from the ESIF in most Member

States is marginal in comparison wi th national and local level funding, especially i f there

are housing policy measures funded from the national budget.

Analysis of selected projects shows that success is linked to high -level support, go od

project management and close co-operation between project partners and the target

group. A strategic individual needs assessment, introduced in the housing-led approach as

well as in deinstitutionalisation projects, actively involves the families at risk of

homelessness and housing exclusion and provides support to their children. However, EU-

funded projects face a number of challenges, including difficult implementation provisions,

the need to co-ordinate support from different EU funds, and delays in the adoption of the

national strategic documents needed to implement reforms or scale up innovative

practices.

The recommendations from th e case study for managing EU funds include : establishing a

stronger rights-based approach and thematic focus on children within the strategic and

monitoring framework in the 2021-2027 period; the development of incentives for Member

States to follow EU social inclusion policies and European Semester recommendati ons;

simplifying the admi nistration of EU fun ds, mai ntaining the possi bility of combining ESF

and ERDF investment for housing with social support and intensive case management; and

promoting the evaluation of innovative projects and scaling up examples of best practice.