At the International Social Housing Festival in Dublin (2025), one message was clear: if we want to end homelessness, we must invest massively in social housing. Experiences from across Europe show that without sufficient public housing, Housing First cannot deliver on its promise.
Homelessness: a structural failure, not an individual one
Too often, homelessness is framed as an individual problem, suggesting that life on the streets results from personal choices or unfortunate life events. Yet the European experiences shared at the International Social Housing Festival in Dublin in 2025 tell a different story. Homelessness is a structural issue, rooted in housing policies that fail to ensure access to decent and affordable homes.
A shared diagnosis across Europe
This diagnosis set the tone for the opening of the International Social Housing Festival in Dublin. Homelessness was identified as a major challenge across European countries, highlighting a common reality: housing supply is insufficient, unaffordable and too often left to the logic of the private market.
One shared ambition was strongly affirmed: ending homelessness requires large-scale investment in social housing. This is confirmed by successful Housing First programmes across Europe. Housing is the starting point of these trajectories, and access to affordable, quality homes is essential.
The Finnish example: when social housing changes the game
In Helsinki, for instance, rents in social housing are around 25% lower than those on the private market, and public authorities own nearly 70% of the city’s land. This enables rapid access to housing, greater residential stability and effective prevention of returns to homelessness.
It is no coincidence that Finland is often cited as a pioneer in tackling homelessness: social housing is a central pillar of its public policy.
Without social housing, Housing First remains a slogan
Throughout the festival, it became clear that without social housing, Housing First risks remaining little more than a slogan. Cities such as Dublin, Lisbon and Barcelona, all facing severe shortages of social housing, openly acknowledged this reality. When the private market dominates without sufficient regulation, housing insecurity and homelessness increase.
One presentation offered a symbolic reminder: the word “city” comes from the Latin “civitas”, meaning citizens. Cities should first and foremost be designed for the people who live in them. Ensuring sufficient social housing means guaranteeing the right to live somewhere.
Investing in social housing: a win for society as a whole
Countries and regions that choose to invest in social housing actively protect the right to housing. Vienna is the most well-known example: nearly one in two residents lives in publicly owned housing.
This investment generates multiple positive outcomes: social mix, regulation of housing prices for the entire population, and job creation. Social housing is a collective investment that ensures everyone can live in dignity.
Social housing is also a key prevention tool. It provides stable housing for the most vulnerable, counters the commodification of housing and protects life trajectories from the damaging effects of an increasingly strained private housing market.
What lessons for Belgium?
In Belgium, these European experiences offer clear lessons. Brussels, facing a major housing crisis, has chosen to introduce a social housing quota for people experiencing homelessness. This highlights a simple truth: without binding targets, housing remains a commodity and homelessness policies remain empty promises.
In Wallonia, no such measures have yet been adopted. Infirmiers de Rue advocates for the introduction of a quota in this region as well, combined with sufficient funding for support services and stronger recognition of frontline organisations. Support and access to housing must go hand in hand in Housing First policies.
Ending homelessness requires political choices
Homelessness is partly the result of an insufficient housing supply. European experiences show that Housing First is strengthened when it relies on an accessible, affordable and sustainable stock of social housing. Housing is not the end goal of inclusion, but its starting condition.
These are political choices. Belgium can do better than remaining below 10% social housing. Let’s make social housing a priority and introduce a quota for people experiencing homelessness.