Between May and July 2025, the COMHOM project advanced the first phase of its Living Lab (LL) activities, a process designed to improve digital and policy responses to homelessness across Europe through co-creation and real-world testing. This phase focused on developing a shared, stakeholder-informed definition of the homelessness problem in five European Union countries: Finland, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain.
The process began with internal reflection among project partners, who collectively identified structural challenges including inconsistent definitions, fragmented data systems, and limited cross-sector coordination. These initial insights framed a shared understanding of the problem space, which was then deepened through the national Living Lab activities.
National partners acted as LL hosts, coordinating participatory consultations with three key groups: individuals with lived experience of homelessness, social care organisations, and policymakers. The process was supported by Chino.io, ensuring attention to ethics and data protection. Through this engagement, broad diagnoses were refined into context-sensitive problem definitions that reflect the realities of homelessness in diverse national settings.
The first LL meeting took place in Finland, where Metropolia University of Applied Sciences convened a multidisciplinary session in Helsinki, bringing together ten participants from government, city authorities, NGOs, and academia. Using participatory group methods, discussions explored trust in service delivery, the use of client data, decision-making in homelessness policy, and the opportunities and barriers of digital tools. The results will inform the COMHOM Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) framework being developed by Sant Joan de Déu València.
In Spain, 17 semi-structured interviews were conducted in June and July with people experiencing homelessness and frontline workers, complemented by an online working group with policymakers, researchers and housing agencies. In addition, a group of experts met in Valencia in May to inform the development of the project’s M&E framework.
In Greece, the consultations combined perspectives from individuals and institutions. People with lived experience of homelessness, professionals from municipalities and civil society organisations, and policymakers all contributed, providing a rich mix of personal insights and strategic views.
In Portugal, discussions brought together people with lived experience, service providers, and policymakers, including an online session with 31 participants in July. These conversations highlighted the importance of digital tools in improving coordination and access to support.
In Ireland, 31 semi-structured interviews were conducted with people with lived experience of homelessness, service providers, and policymakers, providing a multi-level understanding of the system. The discussions explored pathways through homelessness, service delivery, policy implementation, and digital practices.
Across all Living Labs, stakeholders confirmed recurring challenges: inconsistent definitions of homelessness, fragmented and outdated digital systems, barriers to service access, and limited use of data in policymaking. Consultations also surfaced additional issues such as the exclusion of hidden homelessness and misalignment between policy frameworks and operational realities. While contexts differ, common needs emerged, including more inclusive definitions, interoperable data systems, and prevention-focused strategies.
Some consultations faced delays due to national ethics approval processes, particularly in countries without established internal review boards. Despite this, the perspectives gathered to date provide valuable, grounded insights into the lived realities of homelessness and the systems that shape them.
The findings from this phase will directly inform the next stages of COMHOM, guiding the co-design of digital and policy solutions that are responsive to real-world needs and feasible within national and local systems. These solutions will be tested and validated through implementation, ultimately contributing to more inclusive, evidence-informed, and coordinated responses to homelessness across Europe.
Due to its expertise in participatory methodologies and stakeholder engagement across health and wellbeing issues, Value for Health CoLAB (VOH CoLAB) leads COMHOM’s Work Package 2 on Social Innovation and Co-creation. VOH CoLAB is explicitly responsible for the establishment and monitoring of the COMHOM Living Labs, ensuring meaningful stakeholder engagement and co-creation throughout. All consortium partners are actively involved in the co-creation process across the problem, solution, and deployment spaces, bringing their knowledge, experience, and perspectives to strengthen the Living Lab methodology and its outcomes.
COMHOM is co-funded by the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) of the European Union.