Policies to address homelessness

Homelessness interventions are implemented to assist those who are homeless meet their housing and nonshelter needs. In Australia, homelessness interventions are largely financed and administered by governments; nongovernment community organisations and local government councils are responsible for the direct provision of services to clients. Interventions are undertaken in respect of crisis and transitional accommodation support, early intervention programs targeting households at imminent risk of homelessness, and homelessness prevention and structural programs designed to address the underlying causes of homelessness. Evaluations assess whether, and to what extent, a homelessness intervention has been well managed, is effective in addressing the needs of clients, achieves positive outcomes for clients, and represents good value for money. Australian homelessness intervention evaluations have consistently found that homelessness interventions improve outcomes for clients. However, a significant gap exists in the Australian evaluation literature in relation to experimental and quasi-experimental studies on the effectiveness of homelessness programs and economic evaluations of homelessness interventions. © 2012