Evaluation of the Viennese Assistance Programme for the Homeless

Client

• Umbrella organisation of Vienna Social Institutions – Dachverband Wiener Sozialeinrichtungen | 1070 Vienna, Seidengasse 9 | office@dachverband.at

Project partners

• Vienna Social Fund – Fonds Soziales Wien (FSW) | 1030 Vienna, Guglgasse 7-9 | wwh@fsw.at
  Municipal Department 24 – Health Care and Social Welfare Planning -Magistrat der Stadt Wien – Gesundheits- und Sozialplanung | 1080 Vienna, Buchfeldgasse 6 | post@ma24.Vienna.gv.at
• Association of Service Providers for the Homeless in Vienna – Verband Wiener Wohnungslosenhilfe | 1030 Vienna, Schlachthausgasse 41a | office@verband-wwh.at

Agent

• L&R Social Research | 1060 Vienna, Liniengasse 2A
  Mag. Andreas Riesenfelder | riesenfelder@lrsocialresearch.at

Objective of the study

• Analysis of offers, interfaces and forms of cooperation as well as effectiveness and success of the WWH, identification of problem areas of the target groups

Empirical implementation

• Preparation and analysis of longitudinal data, based on monitoring data of the facilities of the Viennese Assistance Programme for the Homeless (WWH) in the years 2006 to 2010 for subsequent illustration of individual courses of utilisation of offers and information about clients remaining in offers; n=38,330
• Personal interviews with clients of the Viennese Assistance Programme for the Homeless who were currently using housing and sleeping offers, conducted between September 2011 and January 2012; analyses by types of offer; n=201
• Qualitative problem-centred depth interviews with skilled workers of the Viennese Assistance Programme for the Homeless and with experts: individual persons and teams occupied in the facilities and in collaborating organisations; n=31
• Reflection on seven concepts from the area of work with homeless people in the form of a brief, written, open-ended questionnaire addressed to the skilled workforce working with homeless people (operative, strategic); returned questionnaires n=98

Project period

• August 2011 – August 2012

Summary
The months of field work in the framework of the evaluation confirmed a high quality of the services offered and great involvement on behalf of the skilled workers of the system of the Viennese Assistance Programme for the Homeless. As revealed by the empirical results of this study, the causes for homelessness as well as the biographical characteristics and risk profiles of the clients vary greatly in nature and thus require a differentiated approach to the form of assistance offered. The heterogeneity of the target group is met by the wide range of offers provided by the WWH, ranging from night shelters to transitional accommodation, ac-commodation for specific target groups, mother and child facilities and family facilities, su-pervised housing in apartments and permanent housing in the framework of socially supported housing. It seems that a strong willingness to innovate on behalf of all those involved and a high disposition for content networking are the reasons why, in spite of the wide range of offers, no significant unnecessary duplication could be observed. All in all, the contents and forms of offers showed high levels of variety and quality. Correspondingly, it has been possible for considerable success rates and essential steps to be achieved by a large majority of the various target groups in their pursuance of independent living.