71 MARTINDALE CENTER FOR THE STUDY OF PRIVATE ENTERPRISE allowed to be implemented in various ways at the municipal level. Housing First initiative From 2009 to 2013, Denmark introduced one of the largest Housing First programs in Europe. The program was tweaked for another funding cycle, from 2014 to 2016. The Housing First program, modeled from the US and expanded into Europe and Denmark, marked a shift from the treatment-first approach. Previously, the commonly held notion was that the homeless suffering from mental illness, substance abuse, or other complex needs should be treated for those conditions first—a philosophy that people need to show compliance in getting treatment and be stabilized before professionals can assess whether they are ready for housing. In contrast, the Housing First approach deems any acute form of homelessness an added barrier to long-term treatment and psychosocial therapy. Therefore, Housing First emphasizes that the best chance for homeless people to integrate into the community is immediate access to permanent housing mixed with intensive support. The new focus surrounds clinical psychiatric rehabilitation and trauma-informed care, using methods tailored to individuals instead of generalized practices. To support such early housing interventions, municipalities must give 25% of vacant public housing to these socially vulnerable groups (Benjaminsen, 2018). The initial Housing First program leveraged three main strategies. The first was budgeting 500Mkr to support homelessness services, construction of more housing, social work initiatives, and other general outreach and contact work. The second strategy emphasized monitoring program execution. Participating municipalities each set, and regularly reported on progress toward, their own specific targets. The third element was to better track and evaluate program effectiveness. Prior to the early 2000s, there had been little knowledge of which policies were most effective for various people. Neither did data adequately differentiate among those homeless people able to support and sustain themselves upon receiving housing versus those who needed more support within various residential institutions. With these three strategies in mind, eight municipalities participated, creating individual goals aligned with main directives set by the Ministry of Social Affairs: reduce the number of people rough sleeping by 64% (individual municipality targets ranged from 50% to 85%) and create 373 new housing units across the eight municipalities, including 162 dedicated for council housing and the rest for specialized support housing options (Hansen, 2010). Denmark has continued efforts to tackle homelessness and in November 2021 published a new political agreement. This revamp targets removing barriers, such as a flawed reimbursement policy, that prevented the full success of the initial Housing First program. The previous reimbursement plan offered municipalities 50% reimbursements on expenses for temporary housing. This incentivized temporary solutions like hostels and night shelters over creating permanent affordable housing. The new plan stops the 50% reimbursement for hostel accommodations after 90 days and instead introduces 50% reimbursement for housing support after stays in homeless hostels, encouraging long-term solutions and sustainability. The new policy also aims to reduce rents and build more affordable housing, temporarily reducing rent in 1800 existing public housing units and at the same time permanently setting affordable rent levels in at least 2500 new public housing units. To better provide ongoing support, a new housing benefit clause in the Social Service Law seeks to increase housing retention rates (Asmussen & Maini- Thorsen, 2021). Cracking down on insecurity camps In parallel with its housing initiatives, in March 2017 Denmark took another measure to clean up its streets by banning insecurity-creating camps throughout Copenhagen. Police and other authorities gained the right to remove homeless people from sleeping in small settlements under bridges, in parks, etc. This law has demonstrably harmed many of the homeless. For example, in September 2018, a man, age 36, was convicted for “staying in an intimidating camp” for a few days. This man was unable to find room in Copenhagen’s emergency shelters, so for 14 days over a three-week period, he slept outside on a pedestrian street in central Copenhagen. He had a sleeping bag, personal belongings, and food, which prosecutors then used to claim the man set up camp. They argued the camp created public intimidation, as the man’s food might attract rodents, and that he urinated on two to three occasions when the public restroom was closed. At trial the man was found guilty and fined 500kr (Housing Rights Watch, 2018). In August 2021, the Copenhagen City Court made an unprecedented ruling against a homeless Romanian migrant. The 40-year-old father of five was sentenced to 14 days in prison after begging on a pedestrian street in Copenhagen. The Danish law criminalizing begging was introduced in 2017 and made permanent in June 2020. While not specifically mentioning migrants, the law was quickly passed shortly after Romania was admitted into the EU and Roma-
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