How could primary care services prevent homelessness?

Policymakers, practitioners and people with lived experiences of homelessness alike often pose the challenge that we need to drive prevention upstream. The arguments are very strong: not only would we help avert the negative experiences and outcomes associated with homelessness but, in doing so, we might also do it in a way that is cheaper and more effective. However, we often struggle to identify and implement those types of solutions.

This paper, written by Guillermo Rodríguez-Guzmán, Director of Evidence and Data at the Centre for Homelessness Impact, highlights how primary care services can play a critical role in homelessness prevention by integrating a screening system to identify patients at risk of housing instability.

At the Centre for Homelessness Impact, they have been reflecting on this challenge for a while.