Moving Beyond Policy Incrementalism: A Comparative International Analysis of Housing First Policy

It has been more than 30 years since the principle of Housing First (HF) was first conceptualized as a way of responding to people experiencing chronic homelessness in North America. It has been regarded by many as a trailblazing approach that focuses on the provision rapid housing responses for people experiencing homelessness with the option of accessing person-centered and flexible support services. The principle has come to underpin a wide variety of housing programs, most notably the Supportive Housing movement originating in New York City. The principle of HF continues to gather policy momentum and inform housing and homelessness policy and programs across the world. This paper addresses the question: How have four Western liberal democracies represented HF strategies within contemporary housing and homelessness policy documents? Using a qualitative analysis, this paper reports on a critical, interpretive and comparative international policy analysis of HF Programs across four major cities: Brisbane, Australia; New York City, USA; London, England and Stockholm, Sweden. These four locations were chosen for this study due to each nation being a Western liberal democracy and all espousing a policy commitment to the Housing First principle and associated strategies and programs. The findings from this research reveal that although support exists for Housing First principles, there is a wide variation in the way HF strategies feature in strategic housing and homelessness policy. The paper argues that despite good intentions, jurisdictions have largely taken an incrementalist approach to HF programs. The election of new administrations and recent policy announcements and settings provide hope for more concerted efforts in the scaling up of HF programs.