ABSTRACT
Dr Nicola Brackertz, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURi)
The Queensland Government Department of Housing and Public Works (HPW) commenced a pilot project with Brisbane Youth Service (BYS) in August 2016 to provide
mobile support services to assist young people (YP) aged 16–25, who are in social housing and are at risk of losing their tenancy and becoming homeless, to sustain their
social housing tenancy.
The Sustaining Young People’s Tenancies (SYT) pilot provides mobile support to YP after they have entered a social housing tenancy. The SYT initiative is testing a new tenancy sustainment approach, which addresses the unmet support needs of YP in social housing.
HPW has engaged the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) to undertake an independent evaluation (Evaluation) of the initiative to determine whether it has met its intended aims and objectives and to inform future investment decisions. This report provides the Evaluation findings.
The Evaluation covers the first year of operation of the SYT initiative (September 2016–September 2017) and draws on 24 qualitative interviews with key stakeholders and analysis of administrative and cost data. To provide confidence in the Evaluation’s results, data was triangulated with evidence from the national and international literatures, which demonstrated consistency of findings.
The key evaluation questions are:
- How effective is SYT in sustaining the tenancies of YP in social housing?
- How successful are the early intervention and prevention strategies used as part of
SYT? - What is the role of pre-existing relationships and collaboration with HPs in
delivering outcomes through SYT? - What system issues affect YP’s ability to sustain tenancies