Supportive housing for homeless people in the context of the Brazilian drug policy: implementation evaluation

Abstract

Supportive housing interventions based on the Housing First approach have been implemented in Brazil as part of drug policy. It is relevant to analyze the influence of local characteristics on the implementation degree of this kind of intervention in this national context. We conducted an implementation evaluation case study of a supportive housing Project, in Brasília/DF. To describe the initiative we used official documents, participant observation of real and virtual environments, systematization of the perception of project workers/managers and logic model. The project description was then compared with criteria based on the HF proposal parameters. The results indicate the appropriateness of the intervention to the fundamental principle of putting housing in the first place, using local solutions and adaptations. However, shortcomings in the management of comprehensive care and disintegration of the social policy network challenge the implementation of the social integration component of the proposal. Health and Social Care interface needs to be better analyzed and the original model better known in its context of origin.

Keywords:
Housing; Mental Health; Drugs; Homelessness; Implementation