8 October 2026
For a small number of people in Australia, homelessness isn't a single crisis but a cycle. Years of rough sleeping, repeated hospital stays, time in custody and short-term accommodation leave them caught between systems that weren't designed to meet their needs over the long term.
Supportive Housing breaks that cycle. It combines ongoing housing with ongoing wraparound support, so the people who need it most can stay housed, be safe and live the life they want.
Our new position paper sets out what Supportive Housing is, why Australia needs more of it and how we can build a national system to deliver it at scale.
What's in the paper
The what: A shared definition of Supportive Housing developed collaboratively by the National Supportive Housing Working Group, bringing together expertise from across housing, homelessness and community services. The paper also outlines the models already operating in Australia, from single site programs like Common Ground to scattered site approaches.
The why: The evidence for investing in Supportive Housing, including the health, justice and welfare costs of persistent homelessness. New modelling by Per Capita shows that in the regions studied, government savings from reduced health and justice costs are at least 1.44 times greater than program costs.
The how: Six elements that underpin an effective Supportive Housing system and ten recommendations for federal, state and territory governments. These include establishing a nationally funded system, a national policy framework with shared accountability and ring-fencing an initial 15% of new social housing for Supportive Housing.
Help us spread the word
Share the paper with your networks using our social tile and suggested caption. Feel free to adapt the caption to suit your organisation and tag us on LinkedIn at Australian Alliance to End Homelessness.
Social tile
Suggested caption
We know how to end homelessness for people with the most complex needs.
Supportive Housing combines ongoing housing with ongoing wraparound support, so people can keep their tenancy and rebuild their health and wellbeing. And it works – 81% of people housed through Perth's 50 Lives 50 Homes program kept their tenancy after one year.
A new national paper from the Australian Alliance to End Homelessness, 'Supportive Housing: The what, why and how', brings together the evidence and sets out, for the first time, a shared cross-sector definition of Supportive Housing. It calls on our governments to invest in a national Supportive Housing system so everyone who needs it has a home and the support to keep it.
Read the paper: aaeh.org.au/supportive-housing-paper-2026
#SupportiveHousing #HousingFirst