Research group Housing and Welfare

Homelessness is not always visible. The research group introduced the first count of homelessness in the Netherlands using the ETHOS Light definition. The count provides insight into the numbers and profile characteristics of homeless people in the participating municipalities and, in addition to visible homelessness, also shows hidden homelessness. Policymakers can use the results to prevent and eradicate homelessness.

We are the national center of expertise on special housing forms in which people in need of (temporary) support live together with other residents and in which commonality and neighborly contact play a role. In these housing projects, cooperation between residents, professional support workers and initiators from housing corporations, care organizations and municipalities plays an important role.

Together with social partners and concerned citizens, the research group participates in knowledge and development networks that look for new ways to connect formal care and informal support. Hybrid' care arrangements are important for continuing to provide care to vulnerable citizens and elderly people living independently in neighborhoods and districts in the future, with an eye for the limits of this.