Reducing, Changing or Ending Housing First Support

Much of the UK and international research is focused on Housing First services and programmes that are in a process of expansion, exploring ways to remove obstacles to success, such as ensuring there is a sufficient supply of affordable housing or the right mix of sustainable funding in place. Less attention is being paid to how Housing First manages transitions in individual support needs, both within services themselves and in respect of when and how to refer people on to more, or less, intensive services when the need arises. In social policy and homelessness policy terms, the early 2020s are still within the Housing First ‘Gold Rush’ period, because most of the research attention is focused on service expansion, not on logistics. This study was commissioned in order to build the evidence base on how Housing First services in England are managing transitions and flexing support, and to find out what kinds of endings occur in Housing First and how these are managed in keeping with the principles.