In Ukraine, as in other places, a lack of housing is a primary cause of homelessness, and the evidence shows that a housing-based approach is the most effective way to end homelessness. That’s why I was privileged to take part in a roundtable event about social housing organised by Depaul Ukraine.
Speaking alongside senior politicians, the roundtable aimed to ensure that, as plans are made for physical reconstruction when the war ends, the needs of those experiencing homelessness are not forgotten.
The effects of the war will continue to impact homelessness in the country. Some veterans will struggle to deal with the trauma arising from what they have seen, families have been broken up and bereaved, and homes have been destroyed. This all comes on top of the homelessness problem that existed before the war, and the lasting impact of Soviet hostility to those experiencing homelessness.
In these circumstances, Depaul Ukraine’s work on the ground preventing and ending homelessness is inspiring and humbling. I became involved in Depaul Ukraine’s work in 2016, when I helped them set up their first programme in a prison near Kharkiv to help reduce the number of people who became homeless when they were released.
At this time, they were supporting approximately 8,500 people experiencing homelessness each year – a number which rapidly grew to over 100,000 people a year when they scaled up their services in response to the war. Their prisons work has now expanded to 25 prisons across the country and plays a vital role in preventing homelessness by engaging with those in prison who are at risk of homelessness upon their release.
I hope that sharing London Homelessness Foundation’s experiences will be useful in Ukraine, but there is also much that those working to end homelessness elsewhere can learn from Depaul Ukraine’s urgent, human, and practical responses to the needs they see around them.
It’s uncertain how long the war in Ukraine will continue, but as long as it does so we will work with Depaul Ukraine, helping them shape policy by sharing some of our experience and learning – often from the mistakes we have made – and taking inspiration from their determination and compassion.
Professor Nick Hardwick is trustee of the London Homelessness Foundation.
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