The European Commission has launched a call for proposals under the European Social Fund+. The call is titled ”Social Innovation Practices to Combat Homelessness (ESF-2023-HOMELESS)”. The call aims at piloting and assessing innovative projects and/or policy measures designed to tackle homelessness and housing exclusion. By testing integrated approaches to homelessness, encompassing aspects like prevention, access to housing, including housing-led approaches and enabling services, it aims to prevent and combat homelessness in alignment with the Pillar principle 19 and the Lisbon Declaration as part of the European Platform on Combatting Homelessness.
The expected outcome is to:
- Create new forms of service delivery that are implemented and tested for a more supportive environment for homeless people.
- Improve the capacity and knowledge for preventing and combatting homelessness.
- Strengthen the cooperation between stakeholders working in the homelessness sector.
The objective is to support capacity building of innovative, multi-stakeholder governance structures, and/or social experimentation at local, regional, and national levels in the domains of homelessness and housing exclusion. This also includes novel ways of delivering services and collaborating with public authorities. The initiative is meant to complement other work strands within the European Platform on Combatting Homelessness, such as data collection and mutual learning with Member States. The purpose is to identify and support a limited number of intermediaries in as many Member States as possible, with the capability to:
- Enhance the knowledge and capacity of numerous stakeholders at the local, regional, and national levels, inclusing the establishment of formal and informal networks in the relevant fields outlined in the call.
- Promote social experimentation and the assessment of innovative practices related to homelessness and housing exclusion.
Consortium composition:
Proposals by both single applicants and consortia are allowed. Proposals submitted by a consortium should be composed of at least 2 applicants (beneficiaries; not affiliated entities), which complies with the following conditions:
The lead applicant must be either:
- an umbrella civil society organisation, a network of local and regional authorities and/ or social services providers at European level (covering at least 14 eligible countries), an International Organisation or an International Financial Institution, including Multilateral Development Banks,
or
- a civil society organisation, local or regional authority, social service provider, or national development bank, at national level. In the case of a lead applicant at national level, at least two co-applicants should be from two other eligible countries. In this case, the consortium should be comprised of at least 3 organisations.
Co-applicants can include research centres/institutes and higher education establishments (private and public). The majority of the applicants must be active in the area of the call (part of statutory aim).
The deadline for the submission is the 14th of December 2023.
You can find more details on the Commission’s website.
To learn more about current calls for proposals or Eurodiaconia’s funding events, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our Projects and EU Funding Officer Giorgia Signoretto at giorgia.signoretto@eurodiaconia.org.