It must partly reduce the number of homeless people, and partly abolish long-term homelessness in Denmark.
– People should not live on the streets or for whole or half years in hostels. We must act differently and ambitiously.
– It is partly about providing the necessary housing and partly about making sure that the homeless get the massive support that we know is so important, says Astrid Krag.
The government will spread the housing model first.
It means that a homeless person is first offered housing, after which they start helping the person with, for example, mental problems.
– We have talked about housing first for almost ten years and spent about 600 million kroner on it in those years. Meanwhile, the number of homeless has increased. It is because we have not had the housing part with us before, but we are doing it now, says the minister.
With the housing project “Closer to II”, which was presented in mid-October, the government will provide 2900 more affordable housing. They must be found among both newly built homes and already existing homes.
In addition, the government will enter into an agreement with the municipalities that they will make better use of their allocation right to public family housing.
According to the Ministry of Social Affairs and the Elderly, there are almost 40,000 family homes today, which have a rent of less than DKK 3,500 per month.
Astrid Krag calls it a “fundamental change” and will therefore not set specific targets for the effort.
– But I have a quiet hope that we can already in 2025 see that there are significantly fewer homeless people when we get the count there, she says.
With the proposal, the government is also planning to reorganize the reimbursement scheme.
Today, the municipalities receive reimbursement for the cost of a stay in a hostel. The state pays half.
But according to Astrid Krag, the reimbursement must follow the citizen as housing benefit in a housing first effort when you have been in a hostel for up to 90 days.
– This is not to withdraw money from the area, but to reorganize the support so that it follows the citizen, and we to a greater extent make sure that they come out in their own home.
– When the reimbursement follows the individual citizen, the incentives turn in the right direction, instead of today where the municipalities only receive reimbursement when the citizens are at the hostel.
Among other things, requirements must also be introduced for the municipalities to make individual action plans for all citizens in hostels.
Source: The Nordic Page