Tertiary prevention focuses on people who are already experiencing homelessness. It aims to end homelessness quickly and stop it from happening again. This includes providing safe, stable housing and the right support to help people rebuild their lives. Without the right support, people are at risk of falling back into homelessness, often again and again.
The Problem: Short-term answers
Too many systems focus on temporary accommodation or short-term help. This fails to address the deeper needs of people who have been through homelessness and may face additional challenges such as poor mental health, trauma, or lack of income.
The Solution: Taking a longer view
Tertiary prevention works by supporting people experiencing homelessness quickly into stable accommodation, and supporting people to stay housed to reduce repeat instances of homelessness. It involves providing stable accommodation, long-term support and intensive case management, and quick access to services that are tailored to people’s needs, for example substance misuse and recovery treatment, access to mental health assistance etc.
Housing First is a leading example of a tertiary prevention programme. Two World Habitat Award winners show how it works:
- The Y-Foundation (Finland): A pioneer of Housing First, the Y-Foundation owns over 19,000 homes across Finland. People are offered permanent housing straight away—no conditions—and receive ongoing support tailored to their needs. This approach has helped Finland reduce long-term homelessness and all but eliminate rough sleeping, making it the EU’s most successful national response to homelessness.
- Discuss Housing (Netherlands): This award winning organisation helps people move on from rough sleeping, or from temporary or supported accommodation into stable homes. Their approach is person-centred and long-term—supporting tenants to rebuild their lives and maintain tenancies over time, not just in the short term.
Effective tertiary prevention also relies on strong partnerships and real-time data.
- Community Solutions (USA): Through its Built for Zero initiative, Community Solutions brings together cities and local partners to end chronic and veteran homelessness. The model uses live data and coordinated housing systems to move people into housing quickly and keep them there.
- Advance to Zero (AtoZ): This nationwide initiative in Australia is inspired by Community Solutions’ model above, and helps local communities and organisations collaborate and create a plan, tracking individuals experiencing homelessness using data-driven approaches to reduce homelessness.
Each of these projects shows that ending homelessness is possible when partnerships and quick decisive action to provide housing is combined with support that lasts as long as needed can be effective.
The Impact: More people in stable homes
Tertiary prevention helps people move out of homelessness—and stay housed.
There is strong international evidence that this approach works. Finland, for example, has used Housing First to virtually eradicate rough sleeping. The Netherlands is working towards housing-led structural change and the model is included in National Housing Plans. Housing First policies have also been successful in Ireland, Canada, the USA, and in the UK.
Community Solutions has demonstrated that even large cities can end chronic and repeat homelessness when data and services are joined up and focused on outcomes. Since 2015, over 14 communities have ended chronic or veteran homelessness—and 157 are currently working towards this. Nearly 200,000 people have been housed by Build to Zero communities, and the model has influenced countless other projects around the world.
