Housing First Principles
The Housing First model is a strategic response to homelessness that prioritises permanent and stable housing for people experiencing homelessness
Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI), 2018
Housing and support are separated to ensure they are delivered with unwavering advocacy provided to the individual. All residents have rights and responsibilities as tenants. Case workers will assertively engage to support and maintain tenancies at risk, understanding the critical part a stable home plays in an individual’s overall wellbeing. There is choice and self-determination where people are able to define for themselves what makes a home. Person-centred support ensures case planning is responsive to an individual’s particular circumstances, needs and choices. Create a sense of belonging where social and community inclusion is an integral part of Common Ground Supportive Housing. This aims to build a sense of self and supports connection with others and to place, which acts as a protective factor for people’s tenancy, health and wellbeing. Active engagement without coercion, where the onus is on support workers to maintain the relationship and ensure their work is engaging. Support workers are creative, compassionate, persistent, proactive and do not give up when engagement is low. It is critical that services build trust, are trauma and gender informed, reliable and transparent. Practice is recovery orientated, and celebrates and works with people's capacities and strengths. Support focusses on people being able to recover a sense of themselves and their place in the community. Support offers hope and actively encourages people to dream and maintain a future focus. It also enables the ‘dignity of risk’, where negative experiences are transformed into learning experiences. A harm reduction approach that focusses on safety and education, where support is guided by individual choice, is accessible and culturally appropriate. Support workers use a wide range of proactive strategies to reduce the negative impact of potentially high risk behaviours. Support workers are mindful that recovery is not a linear journey and doesn’t necessarily require abstinence. Housing and support remain available to people through every stage and in their recovery journey. Recognition that people have a right to a home that meets their cultural and social needs, provides them with full tenancy rights and takes into consideration safety and community connections. Flexible support for as long as needed that is holistic and person-centred and sensitive to people’s cultural identity, life experiences and past trauma. Support is individually tailored and intensity can rise and fall based on a person’s needs at any given time.
COMMON GROUND IMPACT REPORT 22/23
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