Gothenburg, Sweden’s second-largest city, has seen a sharp decline in homelessness after adopting Housing First, a model that puts people into permanent homes before requiring them to address issues such as addiction or mental health.The city counted around 3,000 homeless people in 2026, including 411 classified as acutely homeless — those living on the streets or in shelters. Over the past decade, acute homelessness has fallen by about 60 per cent, while overall homelessness has dropped by just under 40 per cent.At the heart of the initiative is a simple principle: housing comes first. The programme provides people with permanent homes without requiring sobriety or other preconditions. Once housed, residents receive support for issues including substance abuse and mental health.“The idea is that your home should be a secure foundation to stand on, so that you can then work on your other problems in life,” said Borko Grujic, head of operations at Goteborgs Stadsmission, which runs the city’s Housing First programme, as quoted by AFP.For people who have spent years moving between shelters and the streets, having a fixed address can make a significant difference. Viking Weiner, 56, who previously struggled with addiction and homelessness, described his life before getting an apartment as “chaos”.“It’s so much easier when you have a home, a place of your own, to be able to relax and to be able to think about your own future,” he said.The model also changes the relationship between housing and addiction. A relapse does not automatically mean losing the apartment, with the programme following the same tenant protections as regular housing.The results suggest that the approach is helping people stay housed: around 80-90 per cent of those given apartments remain in them. The non-profit initially acquires the lease, with many residents eventually taking over the tenancy themselves after about two years.Gothenburg’s housing model has also gained national attention. Sweden adopted a long-term homelessness strategy in 2022 encouraging municipalities to use Housing First, although only 126 of the country’s 290 municipalities applied for grants to implement it.A key advantage for Gothenburg is its large stock of public housing, which makes it easier to secure apartments for the programme. The city began Housing First 14 years ago, making it one of the longer-running examples of the model.
