This analytical paper synthesizes academic research, statutory and regulatory frameworks, and programmatic evidence to assess global solutions to homelessness. Drawing on human rights law (e.g., the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights), national statutes (e.g., the United Kingdom’s Homelessness Reduction Act 2017 and Canada’s National Housing Strategy Act 2019), key court decisions (e.g., City of Grants Pass v. Johnson, 2024; Government of the Republic of South Africa v. Grootboom), and large-scale evaluations of Housing First and prevention systems, it identifies concrete policy designs that reduce homelessness sustainably. The article argues that legal duties of prevention, rights-based housing frameworks, scaled affordable housing, and fidelity-consistent Housing First—integrated with coordinated access and targeted supports for veterans, youth, and families—produce the strongest, most durable results when paired with fair public-space management and non-criminalization approaches.

Homelessness policy, housing first, comparative homelessness policy, affordable housing systems, homelessness prevention, rights-based housing frameworks, social housing policy, coordinated access systems

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