Presentation given by Silke Paasche, FEANTSA Policy Officer, at a FEANTSA conference on "Multiple barriers, Multiple solutions: Inclusion into and through employment for people who are homeless in Europe", Zaragoza, Spain, 2007

1. Draft FEANTSA European Report 2007
Multiple barriers, Multiple Solutions:
Inclusion into and through Employment for
People who are homeless
FEANTSA Annual European Conference
Zaragoza, 19 October 2007

2. Why employment?
 The role of employment for the
inclusion of people
 Barriers to engagement and
employment
 Efforts to overcome barriers
 Challenges for the future

3. Preparation of the report
 Questionnaire was sent out to all
FEANTSA member organisations in the
European Union
 Received 16 national reports:
www.feantsa.org
 European Report provides overview about
the main findings of the national reports

4. Employment profiles
 Majority of people are unemployed or
economically inactive
 A significant proportion are working
 Spain: around 12 % have a job
 Netherlands: around 10 % have a paid job
 Finland: 4% of the people surveyed by the Social
Welfare Office of Helsinki were employed
 Austria: in the city of Vienna approximately 14% had at
least an occasional job at the entry to a homeless service

5. Where do people who are
homeless work?
 Mainstream labour market
 Restaurants, retail, construction
 Social Economy
 Social cooperatives, social enterprises
 Role of the Informal Economy
 If low levels of social benefits
 If “work does not pay”
 Income generating activities

6. Working Conditions
 High percentage of temporary and
occasional work
 Can be a step into mainstream labour market
 Risk of low income
 Precarious employment
 Lack of social security
 Lack of continuity and move-on options

7. Barriers to Employment I
 Lack of job opportunities
 Structural changes in the labour market
 Lack of low-skilled jobs for people who are
homeless
 Personal barriers
 e.g. debt problems, domestic violence
 Question of cause and effect: are linked with
structural and societal barriers

8. Barriers to Employment II
 Housing barriers and barriers to housing
 Lack of adequate and affordable housing
 Lack of access to housing
 Lack of supported housing/ move-on options
 Health barriers
 Mental health, drug and alcohol addiction,
dual diagnosis

9. Barriers to Employment III
 Barriers related to education
 Low levels of secondary education
 Lack of basic skills: literacy, numeracy
 Discrimination and stigmatisation
 Ignorance about the living situations of
people who are homeless in the general
population
 Stigmatisation linked to physical appearance

10. Barriers to Employment IV
 Barriers related to services
 Lack or inadequacy of services
 Barriers related to transport
 Lack and costs of public transport
 Barriers related to access to information
 Capacity to use Internet and telephone with a
view to access information about job or
training opportunities

11. Gender specific barriers and
barriers for migrants
 Gender specific barriers
 Experience of domestic violence
 Lack of childcare services
 Barriers for migrants
 Precarious legal status

12. Right to work and employment initiatives
for people who are homeless
 No justiciable right to work
 Employment policies for disadvantaged
groups
 Difficulties to integrate people who are
homeless
 Employment policies for people
experiencing homelessness

13. Programmes and projects
 Variety of programmes and projects in
most countries, quantity varies from one
country to another
 Important role of NGOs and social
economy
 More difficult in countries where no
policy framework exist

14. Unemployment and social
benefits
 In general, people experiencing
homelessness have the same rights to
entitlements
 Difference between earnings related
benefits and minimum income
 Disability benefits
 Housing benefits
 Other forms of social benefits

15. Problems regarding benefits I
 Level of benefits
 Not high enough to ensure a decent living
 Structure of benefits
 Financially unattractive for people to seek
regular employment

16. Problems regarding benefits II
 Conditions linked to benefits:
(“willingness to work”)
 Risk to force people in jobs that are not adapted
to their needs
 Risk of social welfare dependency
 Access to benefits
 Without an address = no access to benefits
 Difficulties to follow administrative procedures

17. Employment services
for people who are homeless
 Advice and counselling: most common service
 Supported employment: very common
 Vocational training and education: often
mainstream but in some countries also specialised
 Life-skills training and meaningful occupation:
level varies from one country to another
 In-work support: Crucial but often underdeveloped

18. Cooperation and funding
 Cooperation of different stakeholders
 Partnerships exist
 Levels of cooperation differ significantly
 Funding for employment services
 Need for stable, sufficient and long-term
funding

19. Indicators, data collection and
research
 Need for more qualitative indicators
 Need for more and better statistics on
homelessness in general, including
employment profiles of people
 Need for more research: some research on
employment and homelessness

20. A holistic and personalised approach
 Integration of employment dimension into
homelessness strategies remains a challenge
 Need for an holistic approach:
 Housing, health, employment, social relations
 Need for a personalised approach
 Initial and ongoing assessment of needs and
aspirations of every individual
 Development of a personalised action plan

21. Thank you!
silke.paasche@feantsa.org
www.feantsa.org