01 | Key Lessons from the Housing First Pathfinder Programme in Scotland
Tracks
English
| Thursday, November 6, 2025 |
| 10:45 - 11:45 |
Details
This paper distils nine key lessons emerging from a major independent evaluation of Scotland’s recent ‘Pathfinder’ Housing First programme which scaled up Housing First provision in five areas and housed 579 people experiencing homelessness and so-called ‘complex needs’ over a three-year period. It will focus on the Pathfinder’s achievements and limitations, together with factors facilitating and inhibiting Housing First mobilisation and mainstreaming. At least some, if not all, of the lessons learned are likely to resonate in other countries aiming to embed and/or expand Housing First provision. The paper concludes that the level of political commitment the approach has commanded up until this point must be maintained, and fidelity to the core principles preserved, if Scotland’s avowed status as a Housing First ‘pioneer’ is to be retained going forward.
Speaker
Sarah Johnsen
Professor of Homelessness and Inclusion Health
University of Edinburgh
Key Lessons from the Housing First Pathfinder Programme in Scotland
Biography
Professor Sarah Johnsen is Director of the Centre for Homelessness and Inclusion Health at the University of Edinburgh, UK. Much of Sarah’s recent research has focused on the effectiveness of interventions targeting people affected by homelessness and so-called ‘complex needs’, including major evaluations of Housing First in Scotland and England.
