Policy responses to youth homelessness: Ireland and Flanders compared

Background: Youth homelessness is a global problem and the situations and needs of young people who experience homelessness are increasingly recognized as distinct from those of their adult counterparts. Correspondingly, responses to youth homelessness have shifted in many countries, with policy and interventions increasingly directing the weight of attention toward prevention, alongside initiatives designed to move young people out of homelessness services and into housing as soon as possible. Within the literature, however, relative to analyses of policies targeting adult homeless populations, comparative research on youth homelessness policy is very under-developed. Aim: This paper examines youth homelessness in Ireland and Flanders, Belgium, reviewing the scale and nature of the problem and examining policy responses to youth homelessness in both jurisdictions. Results: Findings reveal many parallels in the scale and drivers of youth homelessness Ireland and Flanders. Policy has evolved at a faster pace in Ireland, where there has been far more substantial investment in the development of strategic approaches to tackling the problem of youth homelessness. In both Ireland and Flanders, there is evidence that policy has not adequately addressed the structural causes of youth homelessness, including the lack of affordable housing and migration, as an emerging structural driver of homelessness among young people. Gendered homelessness is not explicitly addressed within youth homelessness policy in either Ireland or Flanders despite the strong presence of young women in their respective homeless populations. Conclusion: The paper concludes by discussing the key issues and lessons arising from the paper’s analysis, particularly in terms of realizing the goal of providing sustainable housing solutions for young people who experience homelessness.