Brisbane city during 50 Lives 50 Homes registry week in June 2010. Photography: Patrick Hamilton.

Publications Feed

Posted 09-05-2018
Housing First: A roadmap to ending homelessness in Brisbane

A permanent end to homelessness in Brisbane can and should be a reality, but no single organisation can achieve this in isolation. This 2016 Roadmap provides a practical action plan for government and non-government agencies, businesses and individual citizens to work together, so a permanent end to homelessness is a reality.

Posted 08-05-2018
Housing First: a foundation for recovery toolkit

Breaking the cycle of Brisbane’s housing, homelessness and mental health challenges

This 2017 Housing First for Mental Health plan demonstrates how a Housing First evidence-informed approach to ending homelessness assists people who are homeless and living with mental illness to move quickly into permanent housing. 

The Housing First: a foundation for recovery toolkit has been developed by the Brisbane South PHN (BSPHN) Partners in Recovery Consortium – a group of 10 non-government organisations partnered with BSPHN to support people with severe and persistent mental health issues.

As a group of agencies, we are committed to changing our practices and the systems we work within to bring Housing First to people with severe mental illness. 

The culmination of our recent work is this action plan and associated fact sheets on Housing First and Integrated Healthcare models. We have worked together to understand Brisbane’s housing, homelessness and mental health challenges, and map out how Housing First can be implemented for people with mental illness in our community. As organisations who are supporting people with recovery, we understand the crucial importance of getting clinical treatment services to people wherever they are. This report provides models, evidence and recommendations for how that can be achieved – primarily through embedding multidisciplinary teams in community services and integrating those services with permanent housing. 

Posted 01-05-2018
Findings and Outcomes from the 500 Lives 500 Homes campaign

The 500 Lives 500 Homes Campaign Overview represents a snapshot of people surveyed in the Brisbane region during the three year campaign which began with a Registry Fortnight in March/April 2014. Data was collected and analysed for demographics, vulnerability, acuity of homelessness and various self-reported health issues.

There are eight detailed factsheets that accompany the 500 Lives 500 Homes Campaign Overview. Please visit the 500 Lives 500 Homes website to view the factsheets.

Posted 05-04-2018
Heading Home – Ending Homelessness Here

Initiating a cross-sector Project Group, mobilising the community and conducting a Registry Week in the Hawkesbury, Blue Mountains and Penrith Local Government Areas. Prepared by Judy Spencer for Wentworth Community Housing, December 2017.

Through this project, many people who were homeless in the Hawkesbury, Blue Mountains and Penrith Local Government Areas (NBM district) were identified, housed and a new way of working within the district was created. It embraced government, non government and corporate sector working together.

Posted 05-03-2018
What are the health, social and economic benefits of providing public housing and support to formerly homeless people?

AHURI Final Report No.265

Authors: Lisa Wood, Paul Flatau, Kaylene Zaretzky, Sarah Foster, Shannen Vallesi, Darja Miscenko.
Copyright: Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute Limited 2016

This research found that supporting formerly homeless people and those at risk of homelessness into public housing in Western Australia reduced their use of health services as well as the frequency with which they did so. The reduction in health service use, which was particularly evident for hospital stays and psychiatric care, could save WA $4,846 per person per year for a total of $16.4 million per year. This increases to $84,135 per person per year for clients of the NPAH Mental Health program.

Posted 05-02-2018
Evaluation of the 100,000 Homes Campaign

An evaluation assessing the campaign’s effectiveness in housing the chronically and vulnerable homeless in the USA, February 2015.

Authors: Josh Leopold Helen Ho.

The Urban Institute’s evaluation of the 100,000 Homes Campaign (the Campaign) found that the Campaign had a major impact on national efforts to end homelessness, despite its modest staffing and budget. Community Solutions successfully recruited nearly every major city to join the Campaign and exceeded its goal of placing 100,000 chronically or vulnerable homeless Americans into permanent housing.