Platform for Social Housing

Platforma pro sociální bydlení, z. s. (Platform for Social Housing) is a Czech non-governmental non-profit association founded in 2013 as a loose grouping of organisations and individuals focused on social housing and human rights. It now operates as a registered association (zapsaný spolek) uniting more than one hundred members, both individuals and organisations, and functions as a research, advocacy and advisory team dedicated to housing and ending homelessness. Its member organisations are active in eleven regions of the Czech Republic. The Platform works with ministries, regions, municipalities and non-profit organisations to find systemic solutions. It helped secure the adoption of the Housing Support Act (Zákon o podpoře bydlení), which is intended to enable systemic ending of homelessness. It assists municipalities and NGOs in introducing social housing systems and Housing First projects, and addresses shortcomings in social policies that block people from stable housing. It also monitors political decisions and their impact on people in housing need, and transfers foreign expertise and good practice into the Czech context. The organisation is known for the Rapid Re-Housing pilot in Brno, launched in 2015 in cooperation with the city, which housed 50 families with children from hostels and shelters into municipal flats with intensive social support. It ran the "Mít svůj domov" (To Have a Home) campaign from early 2017, gathering 111 supporting organisations and over 3,500 petition signatures, which brought the social housing bill to its first reading in the Chamber of Deputies. From 2017 to 2020 it ran a project strengthening the knowledge base of local governments for reducing and ending homelessness, producing the website ukoncovani-bezdomovectvi.cz and a practical handbook. Since 2018 it has held an annual four-day Autumn School on Housing First. The Platform received the Olga Havel Foundation Good Will Committee award in 2018 and the SocialMarie Prize for Social Innovation in 2018. It continues to advocate for a social housing law based on its ten principles, including prevention of housing loss, entitlement for people in housing need, standard flats, and dispersed housing outside excluded localities.

Platforma pro sociální bydlení was founded in 2013 as a loose association of organisations and individuals united around the topic of social housing. Over time it formalised into a registered association (zapsaný spolek) and grew to unite more than one hundred members, both individuals and organisations. Its member organisations are currently active in eleven regions of the Czech Republic. In early 2015, the leadership of the city of Brno invited the Platform to lead preparations, together with other actors, for a progressive social housing concept that would gradually end homelessness among families and individuals in Brno. The result was a pilot Rapid Re-Housing project that housed 50 families with children from hostels and asylum homes into municipal flats. These families received intensive social support from the NGO IQ Roma Servis under the methodological guidance of the Dutch non-profit HVO Querido, which works with homeless people using the Housing First approach in Amsterdam. At the beginning of 2017, the Platform launched the campaign "Mít svůj domov" (To Have a Home), calling for the social housing law to be adopted before the end of the then Chamber of Deputies' electoral term. 111 organisations joined the call, a number of prominent public figures and experts supported it, and more than 3,500 people signed the petition. The topic reached hundreds of articles and several television reports, reaching millions of readers and viewers. The law was adopted by the government but did not pass the approval process in the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic. However, for the first time in Czech history it reached its first reading and entered broad public awareness. The campaign has its own website, mitsvujdomov.cz. From May 2017 to April 2020, the Platform implemented the project "Posílení znalostní základny samospráv pro snižování a ukončování bezdomovectví" (Strengthening the knowledge base of local governments for reducing and ending homelessness) in cooperation with R-Mosty and the Institute of Sociology of the Academy of Sciences. The main output was the website ukoncovani-bezdomovectvi.cz and a handbook titled "Systémové řešení bytové nouze rodin a jednotlivců na úrovni obcí" (Systemic solution of housing need of families and individuals at the municipal level), available online and in print. The handbook provides a comprehensive practical guide for officials, politicians and social workers. A Partnership Network was also created, in which representatives of municipalities addressing housing need continue to meet regularly. Since 2018, a four-day educational course has been held regularly every September, intended for representatives of cities or non-profit organisations involved in housing clients in Housing First programmes. Participants learn the principles of Housing First, prepare for and share the most common complications during housing, and are further trained in the specifics of social work in households at risk of losing housing. Foreign guests regularly appear at the course. Platform advisors also share their experience and know-how in other thematic one-day or multi-day trainings, for example on the benefit system or on loneliness among Housing First clients. Within the project "Podpora sociálního bydlení" implemented by the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, the Platform also participates in preparing a series of webinars on Housing First and social housing. Educational activities and materials are often created in cooperation with or with the participation of foreign partners and friendly organisations from the Netherlands, Spain, France and Hungary. One of the Platform's key activities since its inception has been advocating for the social housing law. For this purpose, the organisation drafted ten principles that the law should contain, including prevention of housing loss, entitlement for people in housing need with priority for the most vulnerable, provision of social housing in standard flats, public control of quality, availability of quality support, housing provided as long as needed, dispersed housing outside excluded localities, and a realistic implementation schedule. The organisation evaluates each submitted version of the law against these ten principles. The Platform is a holder of the Olga Havel Foundation Good Will Committee award for 2018 and the SocialMarie Prize for Social Innovation 2018.

• 2018

  Received the Olga Havel Foundation Good Will Committee award and the SocialMarie Prize for Social Innovation.

• 2018

  First Autumn School on Housing First held; became an annual event.

• 2017

  Launched the "Mít svůj domov" campaign; the social housing bill reached its first reading in the Chamber of Deputies.

• 2017

  Began project "Posílení znalostní základny samospráv pro snižování a ukončování bezdomovectví" (until 2020).

• 2015

  Launched the Rapid Re-Housing pilot in Brno, housing 50 families with children from hostels and shelters into municipal flats.

• 2013

  Founded as a loose association of organisations and individuals focused on social housing.

A Czech non-profit advocacy and advisory platform promoting systemic solutions to homelessness and housing exclusion through Housing First and social housing legislation.

• Rapid Re-Housing Brno pilot

  Pilot project housing 50 families with children from hostels and shelters into municipal flats with intensive social support.

• Mít svůj domov campaign

  Campaign launched in 2017 calling for adoption of the social housing law; gathered 111 organisations and over 3,500 petition signatures.

• Autumn School on Housing First

  Four-day educational course held annually since 2018 for city and NGO representatives involved in Housing First programmes.

• Handbook 'Systémové řešení bytové nouze rodin a jednotlivců na úrovni obcí'

  Practical guide for officials, politicians and social workers on solving housing need at the municipal level.

• Website ukoncovani-bezdomovectvi.cz

  Main output of the 2017-2020 project on strengthening local government knowledge for ending homelessness.

1. 1Platforma pro sociální bydlenísocialnibydleni.org
2. 2Platforma pro sociální bydlení – Wikipediecs.wikipedia.org
3. 3Wikidata Q104775973wikidata.org