Turning Off the Tap: A Typology for Homelessness Prevention
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Turning Off the Tap: A Typology for Homelessness Prevention Erin Dej1 · Stephen Gaetz2,3 · Kaitlin Schwan3
© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract As states move beyond simply managing their homelessness crises to looking for ways to reduce and ultimately end homelessness, broad-scale efforts to prevent homelessness are lacking. Experiences of homelessness are often harmful, traumatic, and costly, making a compelling case for why homelessness prevention should be prioritized. In recent years, countries such as Australia, Finland, and Wales have shifted their focus to prevention, but there remains a conceptual and systematic gap in our collective knowledge about what precisely homelessness prevention is, what policies, programs, and interventions are captured in a homelessness prevention strategy, and how to build a framework for orienting our response to homelessness towards prevention. This article begins to fill that gap by providing a definition and typology of homelessness prevention (THP). Our definition offers a schema to clarify the nature of homelessness prevention and to develop a collective response between various policies and practices that can and should be framed as homelessness prevention. Building off of the public health model of prevention and pre-existing homelessness prevention classification systems, our THP complements the definition by specifying the pragmatic nature of prevention initiatives and the range of sectors, stakeholders, and levels of government required to respond to the causes of homelessness. Our typology is made up of five interrelated elements: structural, systems, early intervention, evictions prevention, and housing stabilization. Each of these elements contains actionable strategies that cut across primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention to ensure that people at various levels of risk have access to the tools and resources necessary to find and maintain safe, appropriate, and suitable housing. Together the definition and THP are useful tools to envision a new way forward in how we respond to homelessness. Keywords Homelessness prevention · Homelessness · Typology · Primary · Secondary · Tertiary prevention
* Erin Dej [email protected] Extended author information available on the last page of the article
13
Vol.:(0123456789)
The Journal of Primary Prevention
Introduction As economic and social inequality proliferates in much of the global North, rates of homelessness are rising. To date, state responses to homelessness have largely relied on emergency services that address immediate needs (e.g., shelter, food, clothing) but rarely tackle the drivers of homelessness. In recent years Canada, the United States, Finland, Australia, France, and other countries have transitioned away from simply managing homelessness towards Housing First models that provide people who are chronically homeless with barrier-free housing and intensive, wrap-around supports to help maintain housing stability (Goering et al., 2014; Tsemberis & Eisenber
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