Denmark’s Housing First reform has not yet reduced homelessness, according to the latest nationwide count by the Danish Center for Social Science Research (VIVE). 6,028 people were experiencing homelessness during the survey week in February 2026, almost unchanged from 5,989 in 2024, despite a reform introduced in 2023 that was designed to reduce homelessness and shorten periods without a permanent home.
The result has disappointed Social Affairs Minister (socialminister) Monika Rubin, who said she had expected the reform to begin showing an effect. Both the government and VIVE point to difficulties in securing affordable housing, particularly in larger cities, as one factor that may be preventing the Housing First approach from reaching its full potential.
Homelessness in Denmark remains almost unchanged
The latest VIVE homelessness count registered 6,028 people experiencing homelessness in week six of 2026, compared with 5,989 two years earlier.
VIVE conducts the nationwide survey every two years. It includes people sleeping on the street, staying in shelters and other temporary accommodation, as well as so-called sofa sleepers who temporarily stay with relatives, friends or acquaintances because they have no home of their own.
Almost one in ten of those registered had slept on the street during the survey week. Around 3,000 people were staying in shelters or residential facilities for people experiencing homelessness.
The 6,028 figure covers people with permanent residence in Denmark. VIVE separately registered 526 homeless migrants without permanent residence, although the research centre says that figure is subject to greater uncertainty and therefore does not include it in the main total.
The latest result confirms that the decline recorded earlier this decade has stopped. Homelessness fell from 6,431 people in 2019 to 5,789 in 2022, before increasing to 5,989 in 2024 and 6,028 in 2026.
The current figure nevertheless remains below the highest level recorded by VIVE, 6,635 people in 2017. The lowest figure in the series was 4,998 in 2009.
What Denmark’s Housing First reform changed
The Danish Parliament approved the homelessness reform in May 2023, and its main provisions entered into force in October of that year.
According to the legislation approved by the Folketing, its purpose was to expand the Housing First approach, reduce the number of people experiencing homelessness and address long-term homelessness.
Housing First changes the traditional sequence of homelessness services. Rather than requiring a person to resolve other social problems before receiving permanent accommodation, the approach provides a permanent home first, followed by specialised social support in that home.
The legislation describes the model as being based on two essential elements: access to affordable housing and appropriate social support.
The reform also changed the system through which municipalities receive state reimbursements. Municipalities no longer receive the same reimbursement for long stays in shelters and can instead receive funding for specialised Housing First support provided after a person moves into their own home.
The intention is to create a stronger incentive for municipalities to move people from temporary accommodation into permanent housing.
Denmark’s Housing First reform faces a housing shortage
Rubin described the new figures as disappointing in a statement published by the Ministry of Social Affairs.
“It is incredibly discouraging that we have not succeeded in reducing homelessness in Denmark and that we cannot see the effects of the good homelessness reform from 2023,” she said.
Rubin nevertheless argued that the reform still has “untapped potential”, while saying the government must examine why the trend has not changed.
One issue identified by the minister is access to cheap and affordable housing in larger cities.
The geographical distribution of homelessness reinforces that concern. According to the figures reported by Ritzau, 2,483 people experiencing homelessness were registered in Copenhagen and Frederiksberg.
VIVE also found differences between municipalities. Homelessness increased in Copenhagen and Odense, while several other municipalities recorded decreases, including Aarhus. These different local developments largely cancelled each other out at national level.
VIVE senior researcher Lars Benjaminsen cautioned that the survey itself cannot establish why homelessness has not fallen. However, he said previous research shows that some municipalities find it very difficult to secure housing for people experiencing homelessness, which may be one factor behind the national figures.
Housing First has not yet produced a national decline
The 2026 figures do not establish that Housing First itself has failed. VIVE describes its homelessness count as a statistical survey and explicitly warns that it cannot determine causal relationships behind changes in the numbers.
The figures instead show that Denmark has so far failed to achieve one of the central objectives of the 2023 reform: reducing the overall number of people experiencing homelessness.
They also expose a practical limit to the policy. Housing First depends not only on providing social support, but on municipalities being able to find permanent and affordable homes in the first place.
For the Danish government, the next challenge will therefore be to understand why the reform has not yet translated into lower homelessness and whether municipalities have sufficient housing and resources to implement it as intended.
The distinction will be important for the future of Danish homelessness policy. The principle of providing a permanent home before addressing other social problems remains central to the reform, but its effectiveness ultimately depends on whether enough affordable homes are actually available.
