Five-Year Post-Housing Outcomes for a Housing First Cohort in Aotearoa, New Zealand

Abstract

This paper presents outcomes for a Housing First (HF) cohort in Aotearoa, New Zealand. Using integrated governmental administrative data, we analysed outcomes for a cohort of 357 people, comparing health, justice, income, and social welfare indicators the year prior to HF and five years after being housed. In the fifth year after being housed, improved outcomes across each of these sectors were noted, with particularly impressive improvements found in income levels (+38%) and mental health. These results demonstrate the efficacy of this HF programme in improving well-being. Despite such notable improvements, there is room for HF to have a greater impact in the context of wider system changes that support overall well-being, as well as the goal of making homelessness rare, brief, and non-recurring.

Keywords

• housing first
• homelessness
• wellbeing
• health
• māori
• welfare
• integrated data
• justice
• aotearoa
• new zealand