Best Practice manual provides a ‘how to’ guide to deliver supportive housing

A new best practice manual developed by AHURI’s Professional Services team and a range of key partners aims to help community and government organisations best design, deliver and fund supportive social housing. The ‘Common Ground Housing Model Practice Manual’, was written by AHURI in close collaboration with MGS Architects and Mind Australia for the City of Port Phillip on behalf of the Inner Metropolitan Partnership (IMP), which consists of the Cities of Melbourne, Port Phillip and Yarra.

The Common Ground model draws on Housing First principles to accommodate people experiencing chronic homelessness or are in a low-income household to live in a congregate setting that is integrated within the local community. Housing First is a service model that provides people who are experiencing homelessness with immediate access to permanent housing that is integrated with intensive support services.

The new Manual guides the development of both the housing itself and the necessary support services. It helps to inform and guide the scaling up of delivery of Common Ground projects on land identified by government or the community housing sector. The Manual details project delivery and management, based on suitable support service models and how projects delivered to different household types, for example singles and families.

The scale of existing Common Ground facilities in Australia varies, from around 40 apartments up to 150 apartments. Often, there is a mix of formerly homeless tenants and very low- to low-income households, whose rental payments are one funding stream for the project. The congregate setting of the buildings is designed to provide core support services on-site, create socially mixed communities and strengthen neighbourhoods.

Each section of the Manual includes a checklist and has Australian and international examples of Common Ground facilities and other congregate supportive housing to illustrate best practice.

‘The Manual is an important resource to help local governments and communities deliver housing that supports people who are experiencing homelessness, whether they are rough sleepers or living in severely overcrowded dwelling,’ says lead author Dr Tom Alves, Head of Professional Services and Strategic Initiatives at AHURI. ‘It presents key information ranging from establishing partnerships and planning considerations through to funding and finance, and eligibility criteria and tenant mix.’

While focussed on the development of social housing in inner city areas, the Manual also outlines key considerations and processes that are adaptable to different places and to projects of various scales.

The Manual is freely available to download from the AHURI website.