Across the OECD, homelessness remains a persistent challenge, with more than 2 million people estimated to be experiencing homelessness in a given year. While the measurement of homelessness continues to improve, methodological challenges complicate data collection and cross-national comparison. Furthermore, while governments at different levels have put in place homelessness strategies and introduced preventive measures and targeted support to people experiencing homelessness, much remains to be done to design, implement, evaluate, and scale‑up effective homelessness policies.
The OECD Toolkit to Combat Homelessness brings together the latest research and policy practice to guide policy makers in developing better policies to address homelessness. Organised around nine “building blocks,” the Toolkit provides guidance in policy design, in how to engage stakeholders, strengthen the evidence base, and embed systematic monitoring and evaluation into policy making. It stresses the need to shift policy focus towards prevention, the provision of tailored, low-barrier services, and long-term housing solutions, rather than relying on short-term emergency responses. Finally, it addresses critical dimensions of policy delivery, including establishing more sustainable funding and financing streams, strengthening the capacity of local governments and front-line service providers, and building political support for policy reform. Drawing on a growing body of evidence, each building block proposes guidance and good practice examples to inspire policy makers and service providers to replicate what works.
The Toolkit is one of three core outputs – along with a set of Country Notes on Homelessness Data and a Monitoring Framework: Homelessness Data and Measurement – to help improve how governments measure and develop public policies to address homelessness. Developed with support from the European Commission, these outputs contribute to the European Platform on Combatting Homelessness (EPOCH), established in the Lisbon Declaration on the European Platform on Combatting Homelessness in 2021, which commits EU member states to work towards ending homelessness by 2030 through a person-centred, housing-led, and integrated approach.
This Toolkit was prepared by the housing team in the OECD Social Policy Division of the Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Directorate (ELS), under the leadership of Stefano Scarpetta (Director), Mark Pearson (Deputy Director), and Monika Queisser (Senior Counsellor and Head of the Social Policy Division). The OECD Secretariat gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Directorate General for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion of the European Commission.
This Toolkit has been enriched by the contributions and comments from countless representatives from national, region and local governments; researchers; non-governmental organisations; and international organisations. In particular, the Secretariat would like to recognise delegates of the OECD Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Committee and the OECD Working Party on Social Policy; members of the European Platform on Combatting Homelessness (EPOCH); the European Federation of National Organisations working with the Homeless (FEANTSA); the Council of Europe Development Bank; the Social Protection Committee of the European Commission; Eurocities; Housing Europe; UN-HABITAT; the Institute of Global Homelessness; participants of the 2023 OECD Workshop on Homelessness; and many others. Helpful comments on earlier drafts were provided by OECD colleagues in the Social Policy, Migration and Health divisions in ELS, along with the Economics Department.