As mental health care shifted from state psychiatric hospitals to the community in France and western countries, the mental health system became inevitably involved in housing as it strove to meet the broader psychosocial needs of consumers. Simultaneously, as many consumers found themselves unable to find stable living in the community and struggling with addictions, they became a significant subgroup within a larger homeless population, which has received increasing policy attention over the past three decades. There are two distinct service models for adults who have severe mental illness and are homeless: the residential continuum model and the Housing First model.