4.2 The Strategic Response to Homelessness in Finland: Exploring Innovation and Coordination within a National Plan to Reduce and Prevent Homelessness
This chapter describes the results of an international review of the Finnish National Homelessness Strategy, covering the Paavo I and Paavo II programs, which took place between 2008–2011 and 2012–2015. The strategy focused heavily on long-term homelessness, with targets to halve levels by 2011 and to eliminate long-term homelessness by 2015. Since first identifying homelessness as a social problem in the 1980s, Finland had already succeeded in reducing total homelessness to very low levels by 2008; however, long-term homelessness, often experienced by people with high rates of severe mental illness, comorbidity of drug and alcohol use and poor physical health, formed a high proportion of the residual homeless population. Paavo I and Paavo II were therefore specifically targeted at long-term homelessness and included a sometimes controversial use of the Housing First approach. Alongside the focus on bringing down long-term homelessness, the Paavo II program accelerated the national movement towards an integrated homelessness strategy, including increased preventative services and a greater emphasis on tackling concealed homelessness. The chapter describes the strategy, the context in which it arose, the successes that have been achieved and the challenges that still face Finland.