Housing First: Success story in Stuttgart - 25 apartments awarded!

Housing First: Success story in Stuttgart - 25 apartments awarded!

Stuttgart, Deutschland - in Stuttgart makes an innovative project to fight homelessness. "Housing First", a model project, has specialized in conveying homeless people in their own apartments. After two years of successful work, 25 out of 50 planned rental contracts have now been signed.

The basic idea behind "Housing First" is revolutionary: Instead of first demanding therapies or help offers, those affected get their own apartment. This is done without conditions and is intended to serve people as a stable basis in order to be able to better manage their other challenges. The approach originally comes from America and has been implemented in Stuttgart since 2021.

The way to your own apartment

The city of Stuttgart supports the project financially and initiated it through a collaboration with the Evangelical Society of Stuttgart and Caritas Stuttgart. The first positive results already show that this approach works. For many affected people like Alexandra L., the opportunity to move into their own apartment was a crucial turning point.

Alexandra lived on the street for half a year at the beginning of 2019 and was previously heroin -dependent. After deciding to change her life situation, she successfully went into therapy. But returning to a regulated life was extremely challenging because she had no apartment. "It was really a bad time," she describes her experiences in homelessness.

Due to the program participation, she was finally able to rent to an unlimited two-room apartment in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen. "It is a miracle that I have my own rental agreement again," she said with joy. This illustrates the positive impact of the project on the life of the participants.

Almost 4,000 people live in Stuttgart without fixed accommodation, and that goes far beyond the people who sleep on the street. These people, who are called "homeless", differ from people who live with friends or in emergency accommodation who are considered "homeless".

a new approach in social work

The funding from "Housing First" is designed not only to offer apartments, but also to provide support in other areas of life. There are currently 20 people on the waiting list for the apartment mediation. In order to get to this list, no special requirements are required, which enables broad participation.

The job center takes over the rent for the apartments until those affected are able to make a living themselves. Alexandra L. reports that her rent of 490 euros is also covered by the job center until she has found a permanent job. "I would like to start retraining next year and hope to become a job teacher," said the 42-year-old. The program offers this professional support to enable people to make a long -term way back to their professional life.

In addition to the apartment mediation, the project includes individual help in the job search and dealing with debts as well as addiction problems. "Housing First" abolishes this holistic approach from traditional aid programs.

The project has been designed for four years and 50 apartments are to be taught by the final time. Currently, 17 single people, three pairs and five families with a total of eight children have found a new place to stay. "It is the best moment for us when the people hold the key for their new apartment for the first time," reports social worker Katharina Rudel proudly.

A particularly successful aspect of the program is cooperation with various housing companies such as Vonovia, which, by providing apartments, contribute significantly to the implementation of the project. "We notice that the project is successful and I hope that it can continue after the end of the model period in Stuttgart," says Rudel.

The previous results and the affirmation of the participants show that the idea of ​​"Housing First" not only works theoretically, but can also cause concrete positive changes in the life of those affected. www.swr.de reports , it remains to be seen which further progress the model will achieve in the next few years.