Norway’s Path to Preventing and Reducing Homelessness
By Hilde Hatleskog Zeiner and Evelyn Dyb
|Norway has experienced a steady decline in the number of homeless people in recent decades.
Unlike most other European countries, Norway has experienced a steady decline in the number of homeless people in recent decades. In 1996, 6,200 people were homeless in Norway – 1.5 per 1,000. In 2020, the number of homeless people fell to 3,325 – 0.62 per 1,000. So what is Norway doing right that other countries could learn from?
There are two major explanations for the decline in homelessness in Norway: political priorities and a housing-led homelessness policy.
The first national survey of homelessness in 1996 made a previously invisible problem visible. Both central and local authorities were surprised by the high number of homeless people and their distribution nationwide. Further inquiries were called for and the resulting research revealed the poor state of services and provisions for homeless people.
The Norwegian government then launched a series of programmes to prevent and reduce homelessness. Project Homeless (2001-2004) was the first initiative. An experimental project with participation from the seven largest municipalities, it aimed to develop methods and models for addressing homelessness.
The subsequent programme, Pathway to a Permanent Home (2005-2007), was less experimental. It set performance targets and included all municipalities. For instance, the number of notices of eviction should be reduced by 50 per cent, and the number of actual evictions by 30 per cent. In addition, time limits were set for stays in temporary accommodation, and quality criteria were introduced for accommodation facilities.
The next two programmes, Housing for Welfare (2014-2020) and Everyone Needs a Safe Home (2021-2024) have expanded the target group to include other disadvantaged groups in the housing market, but homelessness remains a central issue. In addition, the Housing Bank launched two programmes: The Social Housing Development Programme (2009-2014) and The Municipal Programme (2015-2020).
The sustained efforts of the Housing Bank, combined with ring-fenced funds for development in the municipalities, have made a major contribution to the decline in homelessness. Both the Housing Bank and the state programmes have not only led to positive developments but also helped learning, engaging municipalities and other stakeholders in national networks and knowledge exchange.
The housing-led policy that emerged during the first state programme was particularly important. This was a radical shift in attitudes and policies to combat homelessness. The issue was no longer whether homeless people suffering from mental illness or substance abuse deserved a home, but whether they should be included in the larger group of people in need of home-based services.
This new perspective signalled that providing housing for the homeless should now be a priority, and that there should be no conditions attached to the allocation of housing. Norway is one of only two countries with such a clear housing-led focus on homelessness, together with Finland. And, as a result, Norway and Finland are also the only two countries in Europe that can document a decline in homelessness in recent years.
There are two major explanations for the decline in homelessness in Norway: political priorities and a housing-led homelessness policy. Despite this welcome progress, there is still some distance between national ambitions and implementation at the local level. What is more, according to recent studies, housing remains the ‘wobbly pillar’ of the Norwegian welfare state. Home ownership is the national norm, and the legal basis of the right to housing is weaker than the more solid pillars of pensions, education and healthcare.
The development of a homelessness policy has coincided with a change in Norway’s housing policy, primarily addressing the needs of vulnerable groups on the housing market. So, although Norway has achieved significant results in combatting homelessness, achievements for other disadvantaged groups are more uncertain.
Sources:
Færre bostedsløse - hva er forklaringen? NIBR-rapport, Dyb, E. (2019).
Bostedsløse i 2020 - en kartlegging. NIBR-rapport, Dyb, E., & Zeiner, H. H. (2021).
Norway: A Housing-Led Homeless Policy within a Weak Legal, Dyb, E., & Zeiner, H. H. (2024)
Housing: the wobbly pillar under the welfare state. Scandinavian Housing and Planning Research, Torgersen, U. (1987)