National strategy to prevent and tackle homelessness

Host Country : Norway

Place and date : Oslo , 7. - 8.9.2006

Peer countries : Austria - Denmark - Estonia - Germany - Romania - Slovenia - Spain - Sweden

Local and national government cooperate on a strategy to reduce evictions and ensure that homeless people are offered permanent accommodation.

Groups excluded from the housing market, or at risk of becoming excluded from it, stand to benefit from a scheme being run in Norway from 2005 to 2007.

Backed by the Norwegian Parliament, the national strategy to prevent and tackle homelessness aims to:

Prevent people from becoming homeless
Contribute to adequate quality in overnight shelters
Help ensure that homeless people receive offers of permanent housing without undue delay.

There are five performance targets:

The number of applications for eviction is to be reduced by 50%, and the number of actual evictions by 30%.
Nobody should have to seek temporary accommodation after release from prison.
Nobody should have to seek temporary accommodation after release from treatment in an institution.
Nobody shall be offered overnight shelter that does not meet the agreed quality standard.
Nobody shall reside for more than three months in temporary housing.

The strategy is coordinated by the Ministry of Local Government and Regional Development, in close cooperation with other ministries, the Norwegian State Housing Bank, the county and local authorities and the police.

Local authorities, together with the voluntary sector, have the main responsibility for meeting the strategy’s goals. This responsibility is not enforced by law. Networks are organised, within which local and regional authorities and state agencies meet to discuss good practice and challenges. All state grants and subsidies for housing can be used by local authorities to meet their goals locally. These include social housing subsidies, home loans and grants for first-time buyers, housing allowances and grants for follow-up services for homeless and formerly homeless people.

Most of the homeless people in Norway live in the big cities. Peer Reviews, modelled on the EU programme, are conducted every two years by the six biggest cities and the relevant state agencies and organisations. The feedback from these has resulted in improvements to the statutory framework and has stimulated research.

The scheme is seen as a good example of how central and local government can work together to meet goals. The broad cooperation achieved between the various state agencies may also be of interest to other countries.

Agenda - | en |

Peer Review manager

Ms Monika Natter ( ÖSB Consulting GmbH )

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National strategy to prevent and tackle homelessness

Host Country : Norway

Place and date : Oslo , 7. - 8.9.2006

Peer countries : Austria - Denmark - Estonia - Germany - Romania - Slovenia - Spain - Sweden

Peer Review manager

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