European Exchange on Health & Homelessness 

Improving support for people experiencing homelessness by mainstreaming  integrated approaches

June 24 - 25 in Brussels, venue De Markten

Thanks to all participants for your active participation and interest. The Exchange was a big success in bringing together service providers in the area of housing, health and harm reduction, peers and experts by lived experience, researchers and local policy makers to discuss and promote effective strategies for integrated care and service provision for people who experience(d) homelessness and use drugs and/or alcohol.

The event  report, the presentations and photos are now available (see download section on the right).

FEANTSA organizes this Exchange event which addresses homeless service providers, drug use related services, policy makers, cities, and public health experts. The event will support the establishment of integrated approaches on health and homelessness as best practice in service provision.

The Exchange has a strong participatory character. Participants will have the opportunity to engage in discussion with experts and services from the homeless sector, health and drug/alcohol use support services and contribute own knowledge. Harm reduction, peer work and participation as well as mental health are key topics that will be addressed at different points of the two half-days exchange.

The Exchange will kick off with a key note speech by Peter Molyneux outlining the need for more integrated service responses to better support people experiencing homelessness, especially regarding health needs. The following expert panel will look at innovative service provision. More especifically, panellists will share their knowledge and experiences from implementing innnovative programmes with differents focuses. Attendees will get the opportunity to learn more about good practice interventions and engage in discussions with inspiring good practice services during two workshop streams. The event will end with a policy panel, bringing together policy experts from homeless and drug services, cities who implemented integrated strategies and experts with lived experiences.

Please find the detailed agenda on the right in the 'Download Section'. The Exchange takes place Monday, June 24, afternoon and Tuesday, June 25 morning.

The exchange takes places within the Street Support project (Erasmus+) and is organized with the support of all project partners: Rainbow Group, Fixpunkt Berlin, Simon Community Cork, Spolecnost Podané Ruce, Brno, and Fundacion Salud y Comunidad, Spain.

The attendance of the event is for free. We dispose of limited budget to cover travel and hotel costs of participants. If you require financial assistance for travel and/or hotel costs, please contact project officer Ruth Kasper until May 13th.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Project Number: 2016-1-NL01-KA204-022903