Increasing the availability of safe and secure housing is needed to support those with diverse health and wellbeing needs.
Increased housing options are needed for people on social housing waiting lists as applicants with increasing health and support needs face longer wait times, says a new report into housing stability and wellbeing.
The role of housing providers in supporting clients with complex needs, was undertaken for the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) by researchers from UNSW Sydney, Swinburne University of Technology and the University of Tasmania. It examines the current challenges in providing social housing to people with complex support needs, such as severe and chronic mental health problems, and considers potential alternative policy responses.
"We found that, at the simplest service response, connecting people to secure, stable housing helps their health and wellbeing," says Professor kylie valentine, lead author of the report and Director of the Social Policy Research Centre and Centre for Social Research in Health at UNSW Arts, Design & Architecture. "While our research found all forms of housing tenure can be the basis for integrated support, social housing offers benefits that other types of tenure do not.
"In particular, subsidy programs to place people in private rental are weakened by poor tenure security, while a shortage of suitable properties leads to rising rents and low vacancy rates."
Although some social housing applicants are eligible for different forms of housing assistance, such as rent assistance, many struggle to maintain tenancies in the private rental sector due to discrimination and increasing unaffordability. Furthermore, private rental properties are often not safe for people with complex support needs.
"People may not want to live alone or have the resources to maintain a tenancy without intensive support," Prof. valentine says. "Sharing with flatmates, either friends or people they do not know, can also be very difficult for people with support needs and for their flatmates."
