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European Research Conference:
"Access to Housing for Homeless People in Europe"

9am - 6pm, 21st September 2012
Centre for Housing Policy, University of York, York, UK

FEANTSA’s European Observatory on Homelessness, the European Network for Housing Research Working Group on Welfare Policy, Homelessness and Social Exclusion and the Centre for Housing Policy at the University of York, are pleased to announce the 7th Annual Research Conference on Homelessness in Europe entitled Access to Housing for Homeless People in Europe.

Draft Programme

The Theme

Access to housing for homeless people is one of the major challenges facing homelessness policy.  Homeless people can face significant barriers to adequate and affordable housing, often being unable to secure sufficiently well-paid work to meet the costs of owner occupation and finding some parts of the private rented sector equally unaffordable.  Although there are many pressures on housing supply in the European Union, affordable and adequate housing is potentially available for homeless people.  However, the attitudes of some private landlords and social housing providers towards homeless people, who can be viewed as undesirable tenants who might present housing management problems, can be a significant obstacle to both private rented and social housing.  Tensions in urban policy may also create obstacles to housing for homeless people, such as the risk of urban planners to avoid spatial concentrations of poverty which can constrict the access of homeless people to the more affordable areas in some cities.

New research undertaken by the European Observatory on Homelessness during 2011, Social Housing Allocation and Homelessness, has generated a better understanding of how social housing can help end homelessness and the barriers that can exist to social housing for homeless people.  Papers are welcome on how social housing providers can respond effectively to homelessness. Papers are also welcome on innovations that enhance access to the private rented sector for homeless people, such as social rental/lettings agencies. The conference’s theme also encompasses alternative means of providing access to housing through social enterprise/non profit approaches such as self-build projects.  Papers on enhancing access to affordable housing to deliver homelessness prevention are also welcome, as are papers on the various barriers to affordable housing faced by homeless people. The conference will also include open sessions on the broad theme of ‘homelessness and housing exclusion’ from across Europe.

Keynote Speakers

• Isobel Anderson is Professor at the University of Stirling, Scotland, UK. She is an expert on housing, inequality and social exclusion with a particular focus on homelessness, health & well-being, and international comparisons. Isobel is the founder and joint co-ordinator of the working group on Welfare Policy, Homelessness and Social Exclusion within the European Network for Housing Research.
• Christophe André has been an economist at the OECD since 1997. His areas of interest are housing markets, housing finance, and the relation of impacts of housing price developments on various spheres in households’ strategies and public policy developments.
• Nicholas Pleace (Centre for Housing Policy, University of York) represents the UK in the European Observatory on Homelessness and is one of the co-editors of the European Journal of Homelessness. His research and policy interests centre on housing exclusion, poverty and homelessness in the EU and internationally.
• Nóra Teller (Metropolitan Research Institute, Budapest) has research interests including spatial processes of housing exclusion, homelessness, social housing systems in Central and East Europe, and housing conditions of the Roma in the region. She is one of the co-editors of the European Journal of Homelessness.

All Speakers' Biographies

Speakers' Presentations