Home Truths: Mental Health, Housing and Homelessness in Australia

This report presents ten ‘Home Truths' about what must be done to ensure people with a mental illness have access to adequate and affordable housing.

Home Truths has been prepared and published by the Mental Health Council of Australia (MHCA) after an extensive review of relevant literature and research. It probes the relationships between housing, homelessness and mental health, considers appropriate models to support and accommodate people experiencing mental illness, and contains strategies and recommendations to provide as well as support housing for these people.

People with a mental illness face a number of barriers in their attempts to achieve and maintain stable housing. These include housing affordability, insecure tenure, poor housing conditions, financial difficulties, administrative issues, behavioural and social issues, stigma and discrimination, and a lack of support and treatment. Certain groups will experience additional difficulties due to their increased social isolation. Mental illness can also result from, or be exacerbated by, the experience of homelessness or unstable housing.

As is so often the case, Australia already hosts several innovative, high performing services and models of effective housing support for people with a mental illness. They are not waiting to be invented, just waiting to be supported and propagated.

Source: communityNet www.tricomm.org.au/communitynet

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