Ending homelessness in Central and Eastern Europe: making the shift to a housing-

Ending homelessness in Central and Eastern Europe: making the shift to a housing-led system in Croatia 2 Services for people experiencing homelessness are overwhelmingly offered in urban centres (cities above a specific size are legally obligated to maintain overnight shelters and soup kitchens) and are, to a large part, implemented by NGOs and charitable organisations. [...] Beyond the weaknesses of universal prevention systems that address the affordability issues of the population in general, upstream prevention systems that should be addressing the needs of groups with an 'elevated risk of homelessness' and crisis interventions – like the prevention of evictions – are also largely ineffective and there are no programmes for rapid rehousing or tackling evictions, ei. [...] Policy responses have not been able to compensate for the shortage of affordable housing that exists due to the mass privatisation of the 1990s and the ownership-focused shift of the 2000s. [...] Ending homelessness in Central and Eastern Europe: making the shift to a housing-led system in Croatia 5 Recommendations The order of the recommendations reflects the suggested priorities, with the most important/ feasible ones listed first. [...] Ending homelessness in Central and Eastern Europe: making the shift to a housing-led system in Croatia 6 Recommendations for policymakers (national/regional) • Actively support and consider piloting ways of developing/expanding the municipal housing sector • Collect and publish timely data on homelessness and housing poverty nationwide based on EU-standard methodology • Improve the regulation of t.