Housing for Vulnerable People

This briefing is based on a systematic review that looks at the evidence on the wellbeing impact of housing interventions for people who are at risk of homelessness, unstable housing or loss of their home adults (also known as housing-vulnerable).

We also looked at the cost effectiveness of one of the key interventions, Housing First. This intervention provides immediate, unconditional, access to housing for people with complex needs, with intensive support. In spite of its high profile, there is little evidence about its cost-effectiveness.

Who is ‘housing–vulnerable’?

Housing-vulnerable groups include adults who are at risk of homelessness, unstable housing or loss of their home. This includes people who are homeless or had a history of homelessness; people with a history of mental illness; people with a learning disability; people fleeing domestic violence; substance misusers; refugees and asylum seekers; recent immigrants; young people leaving care; ex-prisoners; Gypsies and Travellers; people with a long-term disability; people with complex needs and multiple disadvantage; and people living in severe overcrowding or with short-term tenancies.

Housing First: cost effectiveness

There was little of evidence on the cost-effectiveness of the interventions investigated. Only a small number of economic evaluations were included and their relevance to the UK varied.

Based on a two-year model that includes the costs of housing, support, health care and criminal justice, we found that each additional day of being stably housed using a Housing First approach, on average, costs an additional £9.

The evidence suggests that Housing First programmes can lead to an increase in life satisfaction, and the best estimates from our model show that each addition point on a 0-10 scale from unsatisfied to fully satisfied with life costs an additional £4,000.

However, there is lots of uncertainty around these estimates, particularly around the cost of Housing First and the appropriate case load for Intensive Case Management.