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Using the ESF to improve local policies & services

This project aims to address homelessness in Poland by developing and implementing a Municipal Standard of Leaving Homelessness, providing standardized services and support for homeless individuals. Through collaboration between NGOs and local governments, the project seeks to improve social policies, system regulations, data collection, and cooperation in addressing homelessness. The project includes a deep analysis of the issue, assessment of support system performance, and a pilot study in 19 municipalities.

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Using the ESF to improve local policies & services

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  1. Using the ESF to improve local policies & services Municipal Standard of Leaving Homelessness Jakub Wilczek – St. BrotherAlbert’s Aid Society PolishNationalFederation for Solving the Problem of Homelessness POLAND

  2. One of the most severe social problems in the country • The majority of tasks in combating homelessness assigned to the municipalities (2500) • Estimated 30-70 thousand homeless (ETHOS 1-4) out of 38.5 million • 33.4 thousandaccording to lastheadcount (Feb 2017) • Highly traditional character: • Men (80%), single (80%), average age shifting from 40-50 to 50-60 • Poorly educated / inactive on the labour market • 80% live in homeless sheltersorother services • Verylittleor no growth in youth-homelessness • Most alarming factor – the length of homelessness episodes: • 50% over 5 years • 25% over 10 years • 5% over 20 years • Poland is in EU’s top in lowest housing saturation and most expensive average rent (compared to average salary) categories TheContext

  3. Area 1 – Social Policy • vision, strategy, coordination • cross-departmentalissues • homelessnessconsidered a problem to be dealt solely by the social assistance system • Area 2 – System Regulations • intervention-focused system that ”keepshomelesspeoplehomeless” • managing the problem instead of solvingit • no prevention, no stablefinancing for reintegration services • existing services unstandardised • Area 3 – Data Collection • littleor no reliable data, esp. roughsleepersignored • lack of monitoring • weakdefinition of homeless person (much morenarrowthan ETHOS) • Area 4 – Cooperation • competitionbetweenNGOs (tenders) • principles of cooperation NGO/municip. • differentapproaches, lack of exchange of information and experiences TheProblems

  4. Initiated by Ministry of Labour and Social Policy (systemic project) • Developed by a partnership of 6 major homelessness NGOs • Part of a larger project ”Creation and Improvement of Standards of Social Assistance and Integration Services” (2009-2014) • Largest Polish ESF (2007-2013 persp.) project– ca. €41 million • Standardisation of homelessness services (ca. €9 million) • Standardisation of general social assistance services(socialwork, socialassistancecentres) • Standardisation of community social services (group socialwork) • Informatisation of municipalsocial assistance system • 85% financed under ESF • Main goal - enhancing the effectiveness of the homeless support system through the development and implementation of a support model (framework), including standards of services for homeless people and those at risk of homelessness (Municipal Standard of Leaving Homelessness) The Project

  5. Deep analysis of the phenomenon • Assessment of the support system performance • Ca. 100 experts (representing NGOs, local governments, independent researchers and other stakeholders) working in 6 thematic areas: • Local partnerships • Social work • Housing & immediate services • Street outreach • Health • Education & employment • A starting point for developing the Model – Municipal Standard of Leaving Homelessness TheAssessment (9.2009 – 6.2010)

  6. The expert groups formed in the assessment phase, using the experience and information gathered, created a model (framework) designed to solve the problem of homelessness locally • Framework based on 6 thematic areas, each including standardised services on 3 levels – prevention, intervention, reintegration • A universal package of services giving a municipality the possibility to choose the elements for its own homelessness policy that meets local needs and include them in local strategies • Innovative (by Polish standards) services included street outreach and housing-led solutions (including Housing First method) • A final draft accepted by the Ministry became a subject to numerous assessments – expert opinions, reviews and debates at many seminars to ensure the maximum impact of all stakeholders • The most important test – a pilot study in 19 Polish municipalities The Model (7.2010 – 6.2011)

  7. An open competition was announced to select 30 municipalities (represented by municipal/NGO local partnerships) and prepare them for a test implementation (pilot study) of the model • Comprehensive training sessions for 300 participants • 30 local assessments (measuring the local homelessness, assessing the local support systems) • FGIs • IDIs • Desk research • Numerous study visits (abroad and domestic) • Direct support in the development of local projects implementing the model • 19 local projects chosen for a 1.5-year-long implementation in the second stage of tender (nearly half the project’s budget spent on implementation - ca. €4 million) TheTraining (7.2011 – 2.2012)

  8. Testing the Model over a period of 1.5 year in diverse conditions: • municipalities in various parts of the country • municipalities of different size – from Warsaw to a small town with 9,000 inhabitants • municipalities of various nature (large urban agglomerations, smaller towns, rural areas) • Main result • Package of valuable comments and significant corrections to the Model supplied by the local partnerships thanks to their experiences • Value added • Noticeable increase in the service standards in 19 municipalities • Launching many previously unimplemented services & upgrading the existing ones; improving local cooperation • Experience-based evidence in favour of housing-led solutions • Total of 7,500 people covered (majority by prevention services) • 1,375 homeless people covered by individual contracts & programmes; almost 300 left homelessness The Pilot Study (3.2012 – 8.2013)

  9. Revision of the Model – including the experiences of the 19 local partnerships • The final version of the Model delivered to the Ministry at the end of 2013 (accepted in June 2014) • In the meantime nearly 40 legal recommendations prepared – mostly for amendments in the Social Assistance Act • National Programme for Solving the Problem of Homelessness and Housing Exclusion 2014-2020 (draft) • National Programme for Combating Poverty and Social Exclusion 2014-2020 (consulting, lobbing for adequate homelessness representation) • Lobbing for inclusion of the standardised homelessness services in the 2014-2020 financial perspective of the EU Funds, with a particular emphasis on the use of the ERDF to develop housing-led solutions TheRecommendations (6.2013 – 11.2013)

  10. Numerous conferences and seminars • 140 municipalities covered by comprehensive training sessions • 700 smaller municipalities covered by counselling services(altogether ca. 1/3 of municipalities in Poland had some sort of contact with the Model) • Continuation of lobbing (incl. the key Ministers and MPs): • The Model (Ministry’s official guidelines for homeless services) • The legal recommendations (2020 timeframe) • The strategy (National Programmes) • The EU Funds (incl. housing-led solutions) • Growing awareness of the need of replacing the traditional intervention and shelter based system with a modern one based on individual housing solutions and emphasising prevention and reintegration of homeless people TheDissemination (12.2013 – 12.2014)

  11. Strategy & coordinationrefused • 2015 Amendment of the Social Assistance Act • Regulation on standards of homelessshelters • Limited financing for investments (tender only) • Increasedemphasis on municipalities’ responsibility • Easieraccess to basicshelter services (no more ”localconnection” rule) • No additionalmoney for the municipalities • Major problemscaused: • Limitations in access to support for homelesspeoplewhoare not self-reliant • Limitations in services for homelessmothers with children • ”Communityshelters” unable to fulfill the requirements • Resistance of the municipalities & NGOs (reluctant to change the existingsystems / unclearregulations / generalinsecurity of the future) • Housing-led services postponed – focusonly on shelters • Lost opportunities in NationalHousingProgramme (2016/17) • Housing-led services for homeless in regional ESF/ERDF 2014-2020 • NationalFederation of NGOs The Outcome (2015 - ???)

  12. Thank you for your attention • Jakub Wilczek – St. BrotherAlbert’s Aid Society • PolishNationalFederation for Solving the Problem of Homelessness • jakub.wilczek@bezdomnosc.pl

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