Health and wellbeing
Homelessness and poor health are deeply interconnected. Our integrated models show that integrating healthcare supports into housing helps build stability and trust.
In short
Our integrated health supports can help break the cycle of poor health and homelessness. Integrated health and housing programs significantly improve client outcomes and deliver long-term value to government and community. While these programs require greater upfront investment, they generate sustained benefits — reducing demand on acute health and homelessness systems and creating lasting health and housing outcomes.
What’s next
The evidence is undeniable: integrated housing and health models work to break the cycle of chronic homelessness and poor health. Yet integrated programs like the Better Health and Housing Program (a unique partnership between Launch Housing, St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne, and the Brotherhood of St. Laurence) remain the exception, not the rule. Scaling effective supports requires sustained investment and cross-sector collaboration.
This year, our integrated health and housing models supported thousands of people with complex needs, from expanding the Launch Housing Alcohol and Other Drugs (AOD) program, to sustaining embedded health supports that reduce acute service use and build trust in care.
Every day at Launch Housing we see that integrating housing support with person-centred health care improves outcomes and saves lives.
Moving forward, we continue to advocate for scaling up trauma-informed, harm minimisation models and building a strong public belief that homelessness can be ended.
People: Health, wellbeing and recovery
Homelessness and poor health are deeply interconnected with consequences that can be devastating. Women and children escaping family violence, First Nations Australians and people sleeping rough are among the most vulnerable groups experiencing homelessness and at risk of violence, health complications, and premature death.
At Launch Housing, we respond to this by bringing healthcare to people, recognising the daily barriers that people face and removing as many as we can, with the goal of generating outcomes at each step of the client journey across the short, medium, and long term. Our integrated models provide support that helps reduce the barriers people face in crisis and respond to the compounding trauma of homelessness and poor health.
The Better Health and Housing Program supports people to recover, reconnect and plan for the future, by providing a safe home and integrated care over six months. Delivered by Launch Housing and St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne, in partnership with the Brotherhood of St. Laurence and funded by Homes Victoria, the Better Health and Housing Program shows what’s possible when health and housing services come together to put people first.
'I’ve finally found myself back in the workforce. I’ll be debt free in about three weeks.’
Our evidence shows that long-term support helps strengthen protective factors such as health, wellbeing, and social connection, creating the stability people need to engage in employment opportunities and reconnect with community and culture.
These programs are informed by a Housing First principles which acknowledges that people cannot recover or rebuild their lives without a safe place to live. Housing is the starting point, not the reward for recovery.
For Jade and Anjie, housing has meant safety and stability. The turning point, however, was receiving integrated, trauma-informed care, which addressed health, wellbeing and dignity alongside housing.
Systems: Why integrated, person-centred care works
The current system is siloed: health services and homelessness responses operate separately, which results in people missing out on critical, integrated services.
Over the past five years, Launch Housing has partnered with health and specialist homelessness services to build the evidence base for integrated responses and to drive system reform.
Our evidence demonstrates that integrated, person-centred models deliver better outcomes and cost savings for government. Outcomes include:
- Better Health and Housing Program: The program delivers long-term, sustainable, and scalable value to government, with cost savings estimated to be between $11.8 million and $18.6 million, or between $200,700 and $314,800 per participant, over 10 years. 1
- Support from Melbourne Street to Home: Saw a marked reduction in hospital admissions among clients, from nearly one in three (32%) at program commencement to around one in ten (11%) over a two-year period. 2
- Embedded nurses at our Southbank Crisis Accommodation: This year, community health nurses provided 2,338 instances of support across 215 clients.
With integrated, person-centred care, a person’s journey through the system can shift from crisis and repeat presentations to greater stability and improved wellbeing. This journey map shows how this transformation can happen.
Harm minimisation is a core part of our practice and service delivery models, aligned with recovery-oriented, person-centred approaches and the principle of dignity of risk. Unlike zero tolerance or punitive models, we meet people where they are at. Guided by the harm minimisation framework, Launch Housing works primarily within the harm reduction pillar to deliver non-judgmental, evidence-based support that reduces drug-related harm and aligns with Housing First principles.
Expanding our Alcohol and Other Drugs program this year has increased our capacity to deliver harm reduction supports, but the real impact comes from multi-disciplinary teamwork. When nurses, Alcohol and Other Drugs specialists and case mangers work together, clients receive holistic, coordinated care, reducing crisis presentations, and supporting long-term recovery and housing stability.
Advocacy: Building a healthier, more just system
The evidence is undeniable: integrated housing and health models work to break the cycle of chronic homelessness and poor health. Yet integrated programs like the Better Health and Housing Program remain the exception, not the rule.
That is why Launch Housing advocates for:
- Policy reform: Embedding trauma-informed, harm minimisation models into mainstream housing and health systems
- Funding reform: Securing long-term funding to scale integrated health and housing programs across Victoria
- System reform: Breaking down siloes across the health and homelessness systems, and reframing housing as core infrastructure
Underscoring this is the need to demonstrate greater social licence by showing the community that homelessness is solvable. A survey of 1,000 Melbournians shows that 77% believe homelessness can be ended if we work together, and 90% view housing as a human right. With this momentum, we can continue to strengthen public trust and understanding in the value of housing and homelessness services and turn public belief into support for lasting systems change.
Footnotes
- Daly, E., Doherty, C., Bondfield, R., Evans, R. & Gibbs, R. (2024). Better Health and Housing Program impact evaluation and economic analysis, Launch Housing; St Vincent's Hospital Melbourne; Urbis Ltd
- Johnson, G. & Chamberlain, C. (2015). Evaluation of the Melbourne Street to Home program: Final Report. Melbourne, HomeGround Services.
