Conference
Addressing Homelessness through Social Investment
3 December 2024 
Palais de l’Europe, Strasbourg, France (& online)
This joint conference of the Council of Europe and the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB), financed by the European Commission’s InvestEU Advisory Hub fund, brought together stakeholders from across Europe to address one of the most pressing social challenges of our time: homelessness. The discussions reaffirmed the shared commitment to reducing and ultimately ending homelessness, while highlighting key strategies and priorities for achieving this goal.
Europe’s Promise to Provide Housing
An effective and concrete response to the issue of homelessness must necessarily be a rights-based one. The Council of Europe protects and promotes the right to housing: this fundamental right is enshrined in both the European Convention of Human Rights and in the European Social Charter. The right to adequate and affordable housing is intrinsically linked to – or is clearly a prerequisite for – the full enjoyment of other fundamental rights, such as the right to life or the right to life or the right to health, and its implementation enables people to live in a dignified way facilitating social justice and sustainable development. European States are therefore urged to take action to guarantee the right to housing, including through wider acceptance of Article 31 of the Charter, and to improve their standards of protection with a view to ensuring social cohesion and justice.
The State of Homelessness in Europe
Homelessness continues to grow in many European countries, reaching alarming levels. In 2015, approximately 700,000 individuals were counted as homeless in Europe. By 2023, this number had nearly doubled to an estimated 1.3 million. In light of this increase, there is growing political momentum to address the crisis. Effectively addressing homelessness requires a comprehensive understanding of its root causes including a harmonised data collection across Europe.
A Holistic Approach to Addressing Homelessness
Ending homelessness demands a comprehensive strategy across three key dimensions:
- Prevention: Early intervention is essential to prevent people from becoming homeless. Stable housing and proactive measures are critical to address vulnerabilities.
- Immediate Response: Housing must be treated as a priority. Programmes like Housing First demonstrate that providing stable accommodation upfront prevents homelessness from becoming a prolonged condition.
- Transition to Independence: Access to affordable housing is crucial for people to transition to independence and leaving support programmes such as Housing First.
Collaboration across local, national, and European levels is vital to ensure these dimensions are addressed in an effective manner.
The Role of Financing
Sufficient financing emerges as a bottleneck to provide effective homelessness solutions. Given the pronounced social character of homeless housing projects, the provision of grants will remain vital. Sustainable and innovative funding models must be developed to address evolving needs. European tools, such as InvestEU, as well as support from the Council of Europe Development Bank, Europe`s only development bank with an exclusively social mandate, offer significant opportunities for financing homelessness initiatives. Here, the design of “bankable” projects is essential to attract concessional loans and multilateral support, reducing over time the reliance on grants. Challenges remain, including securing sufficient long-term funding and reducing the level of grant support needed.
The Cost of Inaction
Failing to act on homelessness results in far-reaching social and economic consequences. Homelessness increases strain on public services such as healthcare, law enforcement, and social support systems, diverting resources from other priorities. Beyond economic costs, untreated homelessness leads to untapped individual potential and prevents people from fully participating in society. Scaling up our efforts to combat homelessness delivers measurable returns by reducing public expenditures over time and empowering individuals to contribute to their communities.
Collaboration Across Borders
Homelessness is a shared challenge that demands collective action across Europe. The Council of Europe’s recent Vilnius Declaration on the European Social Charter calls for further discussions with national as well as competent local and regional authorities, and social partners, in order to promote a rights-based approach to social policy and the sharing of knowledge and good practice in responding to persistent and emerging common problems and challenges, such as housing.
Strengthening partnerships among local, national, and European actors, including Multilateral Development Banks, is essential to ensure funding, policies, and programmes are accessible and effective. Sharing best practices across borders fosters innovative solutions and accelerates progress. Local voices must also be amplified at the European level, ensuring that policies and financing tools are designed to meet the real needs of the local authorities. By working together, Europe can create a united and coordinated approach to ending homelessness.
Conclusion and Call to Action
The discussions during this conference underscored the need for bold, coordinated action to address homelessness effectively. The European Social Charter (ESC), in particular its Articles 16 and 31, provide a guiding framework for upholding the right to housing, ensuring that no one is left behind. CEB financing is key to support socially relevant projects focusing on housing needs. Closer cooperation between the CEB, the ESC, regions, cities and communities and the donor community is important to maximize the Council of Europe’s impact to address homelessness.
To this end, it is essential to prioritise sustainable financing solutions, foster strong political and financial support, and enhance collaboration across governance levels and sectors. With a united effort, Europe can realise its vision of a future where everyone has access to safe and adequate housing.
The Council of Europe and the CEB express their gratitude to the European Commission for its support and to all participants for their dedication and contributions. Let us move forward together, building on today’s insights to create a Europe without homelessness.