RESEARCH DIGEST NO.4: PREVENTING HOMELESSNESS:EPOCH Practice

There are also some challenges in determining whether preventative services are effective. On a case-by-case basis, it is difficult to prove prevention makes a difference, i.e. whether someone who uses a preventative service, who does not become homeless, would still have avoided homelessness without receiving any help. There is some evidence from England in the 2000s that the systematic introduction of preventative services can reduce overall levels of homelessness and more recent evidence from the major reorientation of Welsh homelessness strategy to prevention also suggesting prevention reduces overall homelessness. Alongside this, there is evidence that some preventative services for specific groups, such as the HF4Y model aimed at young people leaving care, can be also be effective. Most EU Member States and other European countries have largely failed to provide a sufficient supply of affordable, decent and affordable homes over the last thirty years, leading to widespread experience of housing exclusion and after housing cost poverty. Alongside this, income and health inequalities have increased across much of Europe, including within EU Member States and the UK.