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Rapid Re-Housing Brno

31/01/2024

Pilot test has proven that Housing First works and contributed to a shift in social housing in Czechia.

Why Housing First

Early research has shown that Housing First is more effective than traditional "housing-readiness" models because it offers immediate, unconditional access to permanent housing coupled with voluntary support services, leading to faster exits from homelessness, higher retention rates, better health and psychosocial outcomes, and lower overall public costs. 


Rapid Housing of Families in Brno

In 2016, the city of Brno decided to pilot the Housing First approach for the first time in the Czech Republic. Out of a total of 421 homeless families, 50 were randomly selected and offered municipal housing and flexible social support. The families moved in between September 2016 and June 2017.  Further 100 families were examined as a so called control group. 

Project Implementer: Brno City Municipality
Partners: IQ Roma Servis, z. s.; University of Ostrava 

Evaluation

The evaluation was experimental, based on the Randomised Control Trial and combined with qualitative approaches, above all focus groups. Inka Bartošová from IPA s.r.o. worked in the evaluation and research team and methodologist and facilitator of focus groups.

According to the evaluation after 1 year, of the 50 families who received municipal housing, 48 (96 %) retained it. The evaluation also demonstrated positive effects on:

  • Housing stability and quality

  • Caregivers' sense of security in their homes

  • Levels of psychosocial stress

  • Health and sleep of both parents and children

  • Rates of child institutionalization

After 5 years, differences between families enrolled in the Rapid Re-Housing project and those not enrolled were still evident:

  • 33 of the 45 surveyed project-supported families (73 %) were living in adequate housing as of May 1, 2022. Over the past five years, 69 % of these families had lived continuously in adequate housing, even though many had moved several times.

  • Supported families spent an average of 185 days (6.2 months) in housing need (without decent housing) over the past five years, whereas families in the so-called control group spent an average of 1,298 days (3.6 years) in housing need.

Interim evaluation report (in Czech, 2018, incl. our contribution)

Early outcome evaluation report 6 months after rehousing (in Czech, 2018, incl. our contribution)

Final evaluation report 12 months after rehousing (in Czech, 2018, incl. our contribution )

Ex-post evaluation report 5 years after rehousing (in Czech, 2023)

Evaluation Impacts

Thanks to the evaluation of this and other similar projects, and the systematic advocacy work of the Social Housing Platform, the Czech Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs has officially recognized the Housing First approach. It now funds further projects of this kind directly.

Find more details on the website of the Ministry in "Housing First" section. 

Sources of the images: 

  • the Czech Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs (map) 
  • the SocialMarie award (photo) 
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