A/HRC/54/30 As an example, social enterprise cafes, which provide jobs to persons experiencing homelessness, in addition to food and drinks, is increasingly becoming popular globally. 103 This is sometimes done through “social impact bonds”, which consist of funding from private investors and are aimed at assisting programmes to address pressing social problems, including homelessness, through the creation of employment, among other initiatives. 104 While they are encouraging initiatives, it is important to ensure that they provide long-term and sustainable, as opposed to temporary, job security for persons experiencing homelessness. 57. The ability to acquire access to income support and social security is also essential in preventing contemporary forms of slavery, when persons experiencing homelessness are not able to find temporary or long-term employment. States around the world have taken different approaches to securing such access. In Canada, the housing agency of British Columbia runs a homeless outreach programme that provides tailored income support and other services to indigenous peoples. 105 In Brazil, persons with disabilities who are experiencing homelessness, or those who are over the age of 64, can receive income support under a continuous cash benefit programme, which is a form of non-contributory pension scheme,106 an approach also adopted by Bangladesh for homeless older persons.107 Cash transfers for persons experiencing homelessness, including children in street situations, are provided in Chile, Indonesia, Kenya and the Philippines,108 and wider non-contributory income support and unemployment benefits are available in various European States, such as Austria, Finland, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Netherlands (Kingdom of the), Portugal, Spain and Sweden.109 58. Equally important is access to health or medical care. An increasing number of States are becoming more proactive in reaching out to persons experiencing homelessness to ensure that they receive the appropriate treatment. In this regard, mobile clinics continue to play an important role in improving access to physical and mental health care for persons experiencing homelessness in various parts of the world,110 and the integration of health-care professionals into local housing providers has also been promoted in States, such as Australia and Canada.111 Many harm reduction programmes for substance abuse, which are aimed at mitigating the negative consequences associated with drug use without requiring abstinence, are regularly utilized by persons experiencing homelessness across Europe, 112 and non- 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 112 14 See, for example, https://www.social-bite.co.uk/; https://havenproject.net/; https://coastaledencafe.com/; and https://gangstarcafe.com/. Huan Wang and Xiaoguang Xu, “Evidence-based analysis of social impact bonds for homelessness: a scoping review” Frontiers in Psychology, vol. 13; and Veronica Coram, et al., “Evaluation of the aspire social impact bond: final report”, Centre for Social Impact, Flinders University and Centre for Social Impact of the University of Western Australia (August 2022). See https://www.hofduncan.org/bc-housing-aboriginal-homeless-outr-1. Organic Law for Social Assistance, 1993; and E/CN.5/2020/3, para. 65. International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth and United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), “Social protection in Asia and the Pacific: inventory of non-contributory programmes” (2019). Submission from the Government of the Philippines; International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth and UNICEF, “Social protection in Asia and the Pacific”; Bernardo Atuesta and Tamara Van Hemelryck, “Emergency social protection against the impact of the pandemic in Latin America and the Caribbean: evidence and lessons learned for universal, comprehensive, sustainable and resilient social protection systems” (Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, 2023); and L. Embleton et al., “Characterizing street-connected children and youths’ social and health inequities in Kenya: a qualitative study”, International Journal of Equality in Health, vol. 19. Esztar Zólyomi et al., “Mapping trends”. Médecins Sans Frontières, “International activity report 2021”; and European Observatory on Homelessness, “Homeless services in Europe” (2018). Australian Alliance to End Homelessness, “Leaving no one behind: a national policy for health, equity, housing and homelessness” (16 January 2020). European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, “Homelessness and drugs: health and social responses” (8 December 2022). GE.23-12640