A new life, a new hope
There is no better way to learn about the benefits of a Housing First project than by seeing and hearing the firsthand experiences of both the people who participate in the program and the technical people who accompany them in the process.
This is the aim of the video series about Primer la llar (First the Home) , a documentary diary of the municipal pilot project to implement a new model of intervention with homeless people in Barcelona. The pilot program was an initiative of the Social Rights Department of the Barcelona City Council, managed by Sant Joan de Déu Serveis Socials-Barcelona and the joint venture Suara-Sant Pere Claver-Garbet, in which 50 homes were made available on a permanent basis—with socio-educational support and monitoring—to homeless people and those in situations of severe social exclusion. The pilot ran from 2015 to 2018. From 2018 onwards, the project became an additional service within the Barcelona City Council's portfolio of services for homeless people.
Eradicating homelessness is possible
Through this audiovisual document we enter the lives of Diego, Fer, Tania, Bernardo, Mari Luz and so many other people who have lived many years on the street and are especially vulnerable due to mental health problems.
It's impossible not to smile at many moments in the videos, to get emotional when they enter their homes, when they explain how their lives have changed, how this program has given them a new life, a new hope.
These documentary videos allow us to see the routines of these people at different times in the Housing First process and the type of support they receive from the support teams, made up of a social team - with professionals from social education, social work, social integration and peer (another professional who has been trained and qualified, and who in their life trajectory has gone through a situation of homelessness) - and the Mental Health Team for Homeless People (ESMESS), made up of professionals from psychiatry, nursing and professionals from the PSI (Individualized Follow-up Project through mental health specialists).
This is a difficult process for people who have been sleeping on the streets for many years; there are many changes to get used to, and it is a process of empowerment and autonomy so that they can have a life project.
Each person is unique, which is why cases are addressed individually by a team. There is a whole process of coordination, supervision, support, and follow-up to ensure that the person participating achieves the goal of living an independent and dignified life.
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