This research examines five National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness (NPAH) programs in Western Australia which support homeless people to access and sustain public housing allocations.

It uses Western Australia’s rich health service utilisation databases linked to public housing administrative data, and is supplemented with a one-off survey of a sample of current public housing tenants who were previously homeless or at risk of homelessness. This provides the most in-depth examination to date in Australia of the public health, social and economic impact of public housing programs to support homeless people and those at risk of homelessness.

This report finds that the provision of stable public housing for people experiencing or at risk of homelessness results in reduced health service use (both in terms of the number of people and the frequency and duration of use), and associated cost savings to the health system and public purse. Providing stable housing with support should be a first priority to improving not only housing outcomes, but health outcomes and consequently reducing health care costs. This is particularly the case for individuals who experience mental health issues. The findings support the role of public housing as a foundation for non-shelter outcomes and, in particular, health outcomes.