The role of local authorities in providing guidance to homeless people as well as the need of adequate resources for local authorities to invest in prevention of homelessness were the main points raised by EPP-CoR members during a debate on eradicating homelessness in the EU with Nicolas Schmit, European Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights.
Borboly Csaba, President of Harghita County Council said that homeless people, especially adults who are already on the streets, should receive guidance on how to get out of such situation and progress must be monitored. He added that public authorities, especially local ones, can greatly help to reach this objective, in partnership with the non-governmental partners.
Regarding the housing-first principal, Borboly said that housing is crucial but it must be designed as a part of a much broader mind-set with the main aim being to regain comfortable and sustainable living conditions for those who are in great distress. He stressed "Seeking employment – and reskilling if necessary - should be the first prerequisites to be reached. Housing must be a final goal, rather than a starting point." Borboly added that the EPP-CoR Group believes in solidarity but also in prevention, especially to halt the unacceptable, unhuman phenomenon of homeless children.
Ricardo Rio, Mayor of Braga outlined that prevention is the key to the success of actions aiming at eradicating homelessness. "Prevention is a matter of solidarity and equality, but also of multi-level governance. Prevention starts in our local communities. It is in our cities and villages, that we can collect sufficient information on the size of this phenomenon, to design balanced and effective reactions. It is by listening to the voices and needs of the most vulnerable families living in our constituencies, that we can adapt our policies. To do so, regional and local authorities need sufficient resources."
Rio also said that in the spirit of the Porto Social Summit held during the Portuguese Presidency this year, the CoR is ready to do its part to deepening the implementation of the European Pillar of Social Rights directly at the heart of local constituencies, as established by the EU Strategic Agenda 2019-2024.
From his end, Commissioner Schmit said that homelessness is on the rise and the right solutions had to be found for each town, city and region. This is why the Commission launched the Platform on Combatting Homelessness. He outlined that in order to address regional disparities, there is a new regional dimension to the social scoreboard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qP-6R2uhvXE&t=1s