ETHOS, the European Typology of Homelessness and Housing Exclusion, is now available in Finnish.

Registrations are open for the European Research Conference on “Access to Housing for Homeless People in Europe”.  The Draft Programme is available.  The conference will be held on the 21st September 2012 at the University of York, United Kingdom.  For more information and to register, please consult the FEANTSA Research website.

The Spanish government has issued a Royal Decree-Act 16/2012 which, among other measures, restricts the level of health care access for irregular migrants stipulated in the Foreigners Act (Ley de Extranjería). The current Foreigners Act establishes that irregular migrants registered at the municipality are entitled to access health care under the same conditions as nationals of the country. The proposed new legislation would limit access to vital health care services for irregular migrants in Spain to emergency care, maternity and child care only.  FEANTSA and its Spanish members have signed a joint statement, led by PICUM, along with other NGOs, opposing article 3 ter. of Section I of the Royal Decree-Act, which denies undocumented migrants the right to access healthcare services.  The statement exists in English and Spanish.

The theme for the 11th European meeting of People Experiencing Poverty was “Homelessness and Housing Rights in the Context of the Crisis”.  The event brought together over 150 delegates (people with direct experience of poverty and/or homelessness) to reflect on this theme under three headings: the impact of the crisis, practice examples and policy recommendations.  It was steamed live at http://webcast.ec.europa.eu.

EAPN and members, FEANTSA, Caritas Europa, ENAR, Eurochild, Eurodiaconia, AGE Platform, the Salvation Army, plus Social Platform, Solidar, EWL, EDF , EASPD, ICSW Europe, Workability Europe and IFSW Europe call on EU leaders to respect the commitment they made when agreeing the EU poverty-reduction target and urge them to invest EU Money for poverty reduction by:

• Allocating at least 25% of the Cohesion Policy budget to the European Social Fund (ESF)
• Earmarking at least 20% of the European Social Fund to poverty reduction and social inclusion.

Support the campaign for 20% allocation of the European Social Fund for social inclusion and poverty reduction by signing the petition.

Europe has set a target to lift at least 20 million people out of poverty by 2020. The poverty target is one of five key targets set in 2010 as part of the European Union's economic and employment strategy for this decade (Europe2020), a strategy to be delivered though annual National Reform Programmes (NRPs) which are based on 10 broad guidelines for economic and employment policies.  There is a guideline on promoting social inclusion and combating poverty. It seems homelessness is a priority in the NRPs for the following countries: Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, France, Finland, Hungary, Greece, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden and the UK.

AMA, the Association des Maisons d’Accueil et des Services d’Aide aux Sans-abri (Association of Shelters and Homeless Services) led a year-long study working with social workers in homeless sheters but also with parents and children who live in homeless services in Belgium, called “Homeless Families: What Support Do Children and Families Receive in Homeless Services”?.  The report produced presents the state of affairs with regards to professional practice and comparisons, as well as an analysis of the key factors necessary to break the cycle of exclusion experienced by these families.  The study can be downloaded on the AMA website.

The Fundación San Martín de Porres celebrates 50 years of providing services to homeless people this year.  There will be a series of activities running throughout the year, such as a photo exhibition, concerts, academic discussions, and several publications will be released, including a book documenting the history of the foundation, a catalogue of the artistic activities carried out in the DentroFuera art space and a report on “The Role of the Media in Combating Homelessness”, which analyses the news gathered by the website www.noticiaspsh.org, run by Fundación San Martín de Porres.

Homeless vendors are to sell “virtual” editions of the Big Issue magazine as part of a six month experiment.  Under the initiative, vendors will offer their customers the choice between a traditional magazine, and a digital code which will let them access a copy of their local magazine online. The project will initially operate in Manchester, UK.

The new French Housing Minister has announced that extra homeless services opened in the winter will remain open for longer, in order to ensure that “noone will have to go back on the streets” - until the shelters close on the 31st May.  The shelters usually close in March but were kept open by the previous government in the run-up to the recent presidential elections.  The new Minister put back the date even further, calling it her first decision in office.  At the request of the Minister, FEANTSA member, FNARS, conducted a survey of the places set to close.  Some French associations have estimated that between six and ten thousand shelter spaces will need to stay open so that the Minister's promise of "noone going back on the streets" is actually kept, others have pointed out that "having nowhere to sleep on the 1st June is just as unfair as having nowhere to sleep on the 30th May".

The number of poor people in Greece without access to medical care is on the rise in Greece, and the NGO Doctors of the World has warned the economic crisis is taking its toll on people's health.  Most of the people in need of help are migrants, but a growing number of Greeks depend on aid from the Doctors of the World.  Most Greeks who request the group's help are either unemployed, retired or families that can no longer afford their children's vaccinations.  Social funding is not available and many people are forced to pay their own medical bills up front, before being partially reimbursed.

Young adults leaving State care institutions in Ireland will receive preferential treatment on council housing lists.  A new inter-agency group will develop an implementation plan on what happens after care, and look at linking up with children’s services and draw up joint protocol with housing authorities.

The association giving legal advice to homeless people in Italy, Avvocati di Strada, has recorded an increase in the numbers of people requesting its help in 26 cities.  It attributes this increase to the effects of the crisis.  In 2011, 2,360 voluntary practices were opened. This number was 2,212 in 2010.  According to a spokesperson from Avvocati di Strada, the crisis has further weakened the most vulnerable groups and has created new ones.  Most people asking for help from the street lawyers are non-Italians (1,392 practices are open for them, 59% of the total), but more and more Italians are asking for help too: “732 last year, 31% of the total». Half of all cases the association deals are about asylum documents, expulsion orders, political asylum cases, humanitarian protection, family reunification and citizenship.

The Northern Ireland Housing Executive has launched its new Homelessness Strategy 2012-2017. The strategy aims to eliminate long-term homelessness and rough sleeping across Northern Ireland by 2020.
A key strategy objective is “to place homelessness prevention at the forefront of service delivery”. The strategy acknowledges that holistic assessment of the needs of a person at risk of homelessness is key to delivering targeted interventions from a range of services. The importance of a co-ordinated, multi-agency approach, involving all relevant organisations to deliver employment, health and financial support and welfare services, is stressed.  Progress will be monitored using a range of performance indicators.

Britain's leading food bank network, the Trussell Trust has seen a rise in the number of people needing emergency food parcels.  The number of people to whom it had issued emergency food parcels had doubled in the last 12 months and was set to increase further as rising living costs, decreasing incomes and welfare cuts take effect, the trust said in its annual report.  Two food banks a week opened up in the UK over the last 12 months to meet an explosion in demand.

The Welsh government has released a white paper laying out plans to reform the housing system in the country. Plans include combating homelessness, increasing the supply of new homes and forcing stricter controls upon landlords.  Another main aim of the plans is to end family homelessness by 2019.

A new research study, jointly published by Focus Ireland and the Immigrant Council of Ireland, explores the experiences of homeless migrants in Dublin. “Homeless in my new Home” documents the experiences of migrants who were sleeping rough or in emergency homeless services in Dublin. The study examines the needs of homeless migrants and the barriers they face in accessing services and sustainable housing. Most of the research participants had been homeless for a long time, and had no source of income, including social welfare. The research was funded by Dublin City Council.

A survey of refugees living in Rome, carried out Fondazione IntegrA/Azione has revealed that 1700 refugees with leave to remain in the country live in run-down, overcrowded and precarious accommodation in Rome. Some are not lucky enough to live inside, and there are families with children living on the street.  Of the 6000 people who qualify for state protection in the Capital 2000 have a place in a reception centre; the others are on a long waiting list.

The UK Government is "falling well short" in tackling the country’s housing crisis, according to The Housing Report published by the UK National Housing Federation (NHF), Shelter and the Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH).  The second edition of The Housing Report, seeks to establish whether the UK Government’s approach to housing is succeeding.  It sets out what ministers and officials have said they will do to tackle the housing crisis - and assesses to what extent they have achieved their stated objectives.  The report says the government is failing on five of its 10 key indicators: affordability of the private rented sector, help with housing costs, homelessness, housing supply and overcrowding.

A study conducted by The Disabilities Trust Foundation in the UK has found that almost half of homeless people have a brain injury. The vast majority of them confirmed they had their first injury before they became homeless.  The Trust now wants to work with councils and housing associations to support homeless people with these injuries.