Final AHURI Inquiry report

This research Inquiry investigated how policy and program responses are experienced to answer the question: How can housing support for vulnerable families be best integrated with other types of support, to enhance safety and wellbeing?

It focused on how integration is actually operating in different contexts: the integration of housing and other support for women experiencing Domestic and family violence (DFV) in different housing tenures; integrated support for Indigenous women experiencing DFV; and the integration of social housing policy with policies to support women affected by domestic and family violence and other especially vulnerable households.

A key finding is that the housing and other needs of vulnerable families cannot be met by one sector. This is increasingly recognised in policy and program design, which recognises that ‘all systems need to work together’ and aspires to ‘an unprecedented level of collaboration with the broader community and governments’. However, there are gaps in provision to vulnerable families across the housing system, and a need for improved responses in emergency accommodation, social housing, and private rental housing.

As the final research Inquiry paper, this report presents a number of policy options to better integrate specialist homelessness services with the broader service system; to better support Indigenous families; and to better integrate social housing policy with policies to support vulnerable people.