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The challenges of achieving housing stability are examinable from a variety of locations and perspectives, resulting in a range of solutions and recommendations for practice. Attending to the experiences and understandings of both service users and service providers within a broad environmental scan, one can obtain a more complete picture of how housing stability can be supported and sustained. The purpose of this research is to better understand the practical landscape, human relationships, interdisciplinary understandings and everyday activities of housing stability.

The paper draws on thematic analysis from expert informant interviews conducted during an environmental scan of housing options and facilities for those who have been labelled “hard to house” in a large, ethnically‐diverse urban city in western Canada. Interviews of selected service users yielded information on their perspectives of the barriers and facilitators of housing stability. Parallel interviews of service providers and/or policy makers were also conducted, and responses compared and contrasted with those of service users.

Three interconnected patterns on the path to housing stability were experienced by the expert informants, and are explored herein. The overlapping and developmental themes “more than a house,” “finding support,” and “connecting multiple supports” are discussed. Conditions and realities of coordinated support need, particularly for those deemed “hard to house” because of addictions or mental health problems were revealed by the expert informants in this study.

Thematic analysis of the parallel interviews brought the landscape of housing stability into clearer focus and contributed to practice recommendations. This qualitative research approach was not intended to provide generalizable findings, but rather sheds light on particular experiences and understandings in ways that may contribute to further research. The themes identified may resonate in differing circumstances having arisen from the more generalized practical realities and social conditions which warrant an ongoing analysis.

The analysis revealed an ongoing gap of support for the management and coordination of the often complex requirements of support for housing stability for service users. Various service agencies, providing houses, providing financial aid, providing health and social support need to “connect multiple levels of support” something identified as an all too often missing link in achieving housing stability. Recommendations include recognizing the necessity of multiple sectors working together with multiple sites and layers of support, in particular for those who experience addictions or mental health problems. More tailored support, follow up and recognition of the potential for instability is a particular practical implication of the study. Invigorating a coordinative, case management role, with a view to bridging and bringing together seemingly disparate sectors and service providers are relevant practical implications of this study.

The research is novel in approach, drawing on a parallel expert informant interview process, and findings are of relevance to practical activities in housing, social and health services and policy as well as for scholarly dialogue and discussion.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the international agenda regarding the discussion on the sustainable development. It asserts the idea that economic growth is a process that embraces the cultural values, human capability, and transnational policies aimed to guide and support the efforts of nations to achieve social security. The paper places the issues of contemporary heritage science theory on the recent debate concerning the cultural heritage preservation based on scientific, legal, social, and management issues.

The paper selected mainly reports, declarations, resolutions, and recommendations concerning this theme. The framework comprehends almost 30 years: from the first project titled “World Decade of Cultural Development” (1988) to the last conference in Tanzania (2016). Some questions defined the methodological approach of this investigation: how can we generate sustainability in terms of the use, maintenance, and conservation of cultural heritage? How can we adjust the local, national, and international guidelines to a common logic without letting go of the community autonomy?

The paper provides a historical context about the enlargement of the debate concerning the international policies for sustainable development from cultural empowerment. It suggests that UNESCO, WHC, and ICCROM have been promoting positive projects in vulnerable regions.

Eurocentric models of development and occidental concept of culture exposure in the selected documents should be reviewed mainly in decolonization areas.

The article offers a distinct perspective for the system of international evaluation of cultural heritage, and a different focus of reflection for the academic community.

The study promotes a reflection regarding the international agenda for sustainable development over the last 30 years.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a Housing Eligibility Assessment Scoring Method (HEASM) for low-income Urgent Repair Programs (URPs).

In order to develop a practical HEASM that incorporates the prevailing eligibility assessment criteria for low-income URPs, a case study research approach was adopted. Emergent themes and patterns in predominant eligibility assessment criteria and methods are derived from program documents utilized by a successful State Urgent Repair Program (SURP) and its 42 Community Partners operating in the Southeastern region of the USA. Coupled with interviews and the expert analysis of SURP staff, the quantitative analysis of 11,414 repaired homes and literature reviews were used to categorize predominant eligible housing repairs and costs.

The five key eligibility assessment criteria categories that emerged from the data analysis are: location, owner-occupancy, family needs, housing repair, and estimated repair costs. The framework of the proposed HEASM is guided by these five categories.

URP decision makers are provided with a simple, practical, and objective eligibility assessment method that can be easily modified to accommodate the unique eligibility criteria and local program conditions. This method should improve the eligibility assessment, prioritization, and the eventual selection of qualifying applicants. Consequently, the capacity of URPs to provide funding to their targeted populations with the most critical needs would be enhanced. Insights could drive the impetus to modify existing URP.