1850 204 205www.focusireland.ie

It is now ten years since the publication of theGovernment’s National Homeless Prevention Strategy and7 years since the Dublin Homeless Agency’sComprehensive Prevention Strategy.

In the intervening years, statutory and voluntaryhomeless services in Ireland have engaged in amajor shift in the policy approach to people who arealready homelessness – from managinghomelessness to attempting to end long-term

homelessness. But despite significant investmentand successes, the numbers who experiencehomelessness have remained stubbornly the same.Progress on preventing homelessness has also beenfrustratingly slow.

The same period has seen a wave of preventativeapproaches of different sorts in the US, England,Scotland and Australia, and considerable analysis andevaluation of these.

FOCUS IRELANDHOLDING ON TO A PLACE YOUCAN CALL HOMELearning from International Experienceon how to Prevent Homelessness

Wednesday 26th September 2012, Vavasour Room, Aviva StadiumConference Centre, Dublin, 9.15am–5.00pm

Conference Leaflet_Layout 1 31/08/2012 12:01 Page 1

Conference Schedule

Focus IrelandHead Office9–12 High StreetChristchurchDublin 8

Tel 01 881 5900LoCall 1850 204 205Fax 01 881 5950Email info@focusireland.iewww.focusireland.ie

In order to protect the identity of

our customers the photographs in

this document are of volunteers.

Registered charity CHY 7220

9.00am Arrival and registration9.45am Official opening: Minister of State for Housing and Planning, Jan O’Sullivan, TD

10.00am Welcome from Focus Ireland, CEO, Joyce Loughnan10.10am Prevention in Ireland – ten years since the National Strategy

Catherine Maher, National Director of Services and Housing, Focus Ireland10.30am Does prevention work? Lessons from international research

Chair: Cathal Morgan, Director, Dublin Regional Homelessness Executive> Prof Dennis Culhane, Penn University> Cameron Parsell, University of Queensland(Coffee 11.30am)> Volker Busch-Geertsema, European Observatory on Homelessness and GISS, Bremen, Germany> Prof Tony Fahey, University College DublinQuestions and discussion

1.00pm Lunch 2.00pm Making prevention work – lessons from services

Rachael Wallace-Lane, Head of Prevention Services, Cyrenians Edinburgh2.45pm Coffee3.00pm Round table: What needs to be done in Ireland?

Chair: Gerry Danaher, Chair, Focus Ireland Board> Dr Paula Mayock, Trinity College Dublin, Children’s Research Centre> Orla Barry, Mental Health Reform> Local Authority Speaker> Speaker, HSE Homelessness> Speaker, Department of Environment> Catherine Maher, National Director of Services, Focus Ireland

4.30pm Concluding remarksMike Allen, Director of Advocacy, Focus Ireland

5.00pm Close

The Focus Ireland Strategy 2011–16 Holding on to a placeyou can call home signals a significant shift for theorganisation towards preventative approaches.

This major conference seeks to inform Focus Irelandplanning for innovative service and advocacy interventionswhich will fulfill the organisation’s commitment to a shift toa preventative approach. Recognising that prevention isnot an objective that one organisation can achieve alone,

the conference seeks to create and inform a debateinvolving providers, funders and policy makers about therole of prevention in the next phase of the journey totackle homelessness.

In particular the conference will seek to learn frominternational experience and research and in particular lookat questions of targeting, measuring success and whatinterventions work (or are likely to work in the Irish context).

FOCUS IRELANDHOLDING ON TO A PLACE YOU CAN CALL HOME

Conference Leaflet_Layout 1 31/08/2012 12:01 Page 2