The Rapid Re-Housing initiative in Brno aims to end homelessness among families with children by providing immediate access to stable housing, combined with intensive and tailored social support. The programme has demonstrated strong outcomes, with 96% of supported families maintaining their housing after one year while also generating substantial social and health benefits.
Pilot testing of rapid re‑housing for families with children in Brno
Abstract
The Brno Rapid Re-Housing initiative aims to end homelessness among families with children by providing immediate access to stable housing combined with intensive, tailored social support. The pilot programme specifically targeted highly vulnerable families living in substandard conditions, with the objective of achieving high housing retention rates and improving overall living conditions and wellbeing.
The programme is grounded in the Housing First approach, recognising that housing instability is a root cause, rather than a consequence, of broader social and economic challenges. By rapidly rehousing families, including a significant share of Roma households, the initiative seeks to reduce inequalities, improve health outcomes and support better integration into education systems and the labour market.
The policy responds to strong evidence that poor housing conditions negatively affect children’s development, school performance and family stability. By securing adequate housing, the programme aims to create the conditions for improved educational outcomes, reduced child placements into institutional care, and stronger family cohesion.
City: Brno
Country: Czechia
EU member state: Yes
Geographic scale: City
City size: Midsize (740 000 residents)
Date launched: 2016
Current status: Ongoing
Policy pillar(s): Housing and the built environment
Target group(s): Children, youth, women, older people, AROPE, people with disabilities, ethnic minorities, including Roma, low-income households, families
Funding and budget:
Total budget: EUR 400 000
Funding sources: Local government, National government, EU
EU funds/programmes: ESF+
In the city of Brno, an estimated 400 families experience homelessness, often residing in temporary hostels that provide unstable and inadequate living conditions. These settings are associated with poor health outcomes, disrupted education for children, and limited prospects for social and economic integration. Hostels are partly subsidised by public housing allowances, creating costly but ineffective pathways that fail to support long-term exits from homelessness. At the same time, emergency shelters are overcrowded and rarely accommodate entire families. The absence of a structured affordable housing system in Brno has resulted in fragmented responses, with existing programmes relying on “staircase” or merit-based approaches that require families to progress through stages before accessing permanent housing. These models have shown limited effectiveness, with low success rates and risks of repeated cycles of instability. More broadly, family homelessness has significant social and fiscal costs, including child separation and high expenditure on emergency accommodation.
Brno prioritised testing a Housing First approach for families, based on the principle that access to stable housing is a prerequisite for addressing other social challenges, rather than a reward contingent on behavioural change. The Rapid Re-Housing pilot was designed to provide immediate access to independent housing without preconditions, alongside tailored social support.
The initiative was built on strong collaboration between the municipality and social service providers, supported by capacity-building and methodological innovation. Staff from participating organisations were trained in assertive, strengths-based social work, including community-based approaches and the involvement of peer workers. A key component was the development of a shared operational framework and communication model between public institutions, social workers and service users. This has helped align practices, improve coordination, and create the foundations for scaling the approach.
The Rapid Re-Housing pilot in Brno combined targeted identification of beneficiaries with the immediate provision of independent housing and intensive, tailored support. The programme began with a city-wide exercise to identify families experiencing housing instability (“registration week”), which enabled the selection of participants for both the intervention and a control group as part of a randomised controlled trial. Families included in the intervention were rapidly placed into standard housing units, marking a departure from temporary or institutional accommodation. Once housed, they received comprehensive, home-based social support delivered in line with Housing First principles, focusing on the strengths of each family and addressing a wide range of needs, including financial stability, parenting, health and social integration. Implementation was supported by ongoing coordination between municipal authorities, social workers and external experts, ensuring consistent delivery and enabling continuous feedback.
The programme incorporated a strong evaluation and learning component, combining quantitative and qualitative methods to assess impacts on housing stability, family wellbeing and service effectiveness. The inclusion of a control group enabled robust evidence on outcomes compared to traditional approaches. Results show a very high level of effectiveness, with 96% of supported families maintaining their housing after one year, compared to significantly lower stability among the control group. The intervention substantially increased housing security, with families spending almost the entire year in stable accommodation. Beyond housing outcomes, the programme generated significant social and health benefits. Families experienced markedly lower levels of psychosocial stress, reduced use of emergency health services and fewer hospitalisations. The intervention also contributed to improved family stability, including a significant reduction in child placements into institutional care. From a public finance perspective, the programme proved cost-effective, with lower overall public expenditure compared to the status quo, generating net savings per family.
Draw on international best practices while adapting them to local contexts. Brno demonstrates how globally proven approaches, such as Housing First, can be effectively tailored to local realities, including the specific needs of homeless families and marginalised groups such as Roma communities.
Invest in staff capacity to work with vulnerable populations. Delivering effective support requires trained professionals who understand how to engage with vulnerable groups, build trust and respond to their specific needs. Strengthening these skills is essential for ensuring both uptake and long-term success of the intervention.
Rapid Re-Housing Evaluation 2018 (PDF): zaverecna_zprava.indd
City of Brno’s website (PDF): A great success in Brno: Rapid Re-Housing has achieved its goal
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Photo credits: © Social Housing – Housing Brno
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