Courard: the European Consensus Conference on Homelessness, a historic turning point
In bitter cold, and as the homeless struggled against the winter's frigid temperatures, the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU hosted the European Consensus Conference on Homelessness on December 9th and 10th in Brussels. This important issue falls within the scope of the European Year for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion 2010.
The Consensus Conference was an initiative of the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU and was held in cooperation with the European Commission and the European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless (FEANTSA). Homelessness has been one of the major social priorities of the Belgian Presidency and the EU is determined to extend the reach of its initiatives to fight against this scourge.
Homelessness continues to be a problem for all European countries and is now affecting additional sections of the population. The stereotypical idea of a homeless person is a single, middle-aged man sleeping on the ground. However, a growing number of young people, of women, of people whose families have broken apart, and of immigrants are swelling the ranks of the homeless. This situation is damaging for both the homeless and for society in general. Despite the progress made in many Member States to check the phenomenon, further political support and coordination must be developed at the EU level. In addition to the many different definitions of homelessness in the Member States, very different methods are also used to gather and disseminate data on the problem. It is imperative that this be addressed to enable the EU to develop a common framework to support and follow Member States in their development of policies for the homeless.
Several significant developments intended to stem homelessness have been implemented over the past years as part of the strategy to fight poverty in the EU. Fighting homelessness has become a priority and is a major part of the EU strategy for social protection and inclusion. The EU uses this strategy to coordinate and promote national initiatives and policy developments intended to fight poverty and social exclusion.
The 2010 Council and Commission Joint Report on Social Protection and Social Inclusion, an essential EU policy tool against poverty, calls for Member States to develop strategies based on:
• Prevention as the most effective way to fight against homelessness, with special attention paid to reducing evictions and to cases of people leaving institutions without a place to live
• The development of a strategy that will move from providing people with temporary or emergency housing to more progressive global policies that help people get access to subsidised and/or permanent housing
• The "housing first" approach which makes finding stable housing for people the first priority without falling into the "housing only" approach when they have special additional needs
• Improved governance the main elements of which should include initiative-taking on the part of public authorities, effective participation by all stakeholders, and consensus on the strategy to be implemented.
The European Parliament has also taken a number of important steps in the area of homelessness including the adoption of a written statement in 2008 that invited the Council to make a Europe-wide commitment to ending street homelessness by 2015. The Committee of Regions published a report in October describing how to make the fight against homelessness a priority of EU social inclusion policy, in particular, within the framework of the Europe 2020 Strategy and post-Lisbon.
The coordination of policies to fight homelessness in the EU requires finding a consensus that will lead to the implementation of policies that have been proven to work in the different Member States. The consensus conference is a problem resolution strategy. First used in the healthcare and technology fields, it enables participants to develop a shared understanding of issues in order to define global policies. Consensus conferences are public enquiries built around a jury which is responsible for evaluating a controversial social issue. The jury consults experts in the field in question and has the opportunity to ask them questions before evaluating the information behind closed doors and presenting a conclusion report. Consensus conferences have only recently begun to be used in the social policy field, in general, and for homelessness, in particular. The European Consensus Conference on Homelessness was the first European-level consensus conference held for the social field. It was part of a collaborative process intended to set a more suitable agenda for the EU to enhance the fight against homelessness in Member States. It will further solidify EU strategy.
The Consensus Conference covered six key issues on homelessness selected by a preparatory committee before the conference. The committee consisted of various stakeholders in the fight against homelessness including homeless people, representatives of public authorities, NGOs providing services, and academics.
They raised the following issues:
(1) "What does homelessness mean?"
(2), "Is ending homelessness a realistic goal",
(3) "Are housing-led policy approaches the most effective methods of preventing and tackling homelessness?",
(4) "How can meaningful participation of homeless people in the development of homelessness policies be assured?",
(5) "To what extent should people be able to access homeless services irrespective of their legal status and citizenship?" and
(6) "What should the elements of an EU strategy on homelessness be?"
The preparatory committee also selected three experts who contributed to each of the key issues by providing a written response to the Consensus Conference. The seven members of the independent jury (selected by the preparatory committee) and conference attendees (about 400 people) were able to ask the experts questions about their contributions.
In addition to the contributions of the experts, the jury also used the conclusions of a transnational consultation of homeless people organised by the Front Commun des SDF (a Belgian national organisation of homeless and former homeless people). This consultation was intended to ensure that the opinions of people who have been, or who are, homeless were presented to the jury and included in the conclusions reached on the key issues. The jury consisted of experts from the social field specialised in areas other than homelessness and who enjoy an outstanding European reputation. The jury was chaired by Frank Vandenbroucke.
