Understanding barriers and opportunities for Housing First in Adelaide: data learnings, reflections and tools

This report presents the findings of both a deep dive into experiential data within the Adelaide Zero Project, and reflections on such evidence and learnings from the Adelaide Zero Project to date to advance thinking around orienting service delivery to a Housing First approach for people experiencing chronic or rough sleeping homelessness.

This project is timely for a range of reasons. There remains significant interest in Housing First as an approach for supporting people moving on from homelessness in Australia, reflected in the inclusion of the Housing First approach in recent state and territory homelessness plans (see, for example, Our Housing Future 2020-2030, the SA Government’s 10-year housing, homelessness and support plan; Western Australia’s All Paths Lead to a Home 2020-2030 homelessness strategy and Homelessness Action Plan 2020-2025; and Victoria’s homelessness and rough sleeping action plan).

The authors would like to thank the Mercy Foundation for their financial support for this project, as well as the many stakeholders in the Adelaide Zero Project who gave freely of their time and opinions, providing important insights into how Housing First can and is working within the bounds of the Adelaide Zero Project.

Suggested citation:

Tually, S., McKinley, K., Rowley, C. and McDougall, K. 2021, Adelaide Zero Project, Understanding barrier and opportunities for Housing First: data learnings, reflections and tools, report for the Mercy Foundation prepared by The Australian Alliance for Social Enterprise and Adelaide Zero Project, December 2021.