The European Federation of National Organisations working with the Homeless (FEANTSA) is a European non-governmental organisation. It is the only major European network that focuses exclusively on homelessness at European level. FEANTSA receives financial support from the European Commission for the implementation of its activities. The organisation works closely with the EU institutions, and has consultative status at the Council of Europe and at the United Nations.

Most of the members of FEANTSA are national or regional umbrella organisations of service providers. They often work in close co-operation with public authorities, social housing providers and other relevant actors.

We are a highly active member of FEANTSA, particularly as part of the Employment Expert Working Group. We work with FEANTSA to influence policy at a European level, to try to ensure that funding and strategies tackle homelessness holistically, including through skills and employment.

OSW has led on the development of a group paper on barriers and solutions to employment. This paper was fed into the response to the European Commission’s communications on minimum income policies and integration of those furthest from the labour market.

As part of the Employment Working Group, we also began planning for FEANTSA’s theme for 2007, which is employment. In particular, we will be linking in our emerging findings from the TMD London programme.

You can find out more about FEANTSA by visiting the FEANTSA website.