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. 2022 Jun 29;53(5):656-672.
doi: 10.1080/03036758.2022.2088572. eCollection 2023.

Post-housing first outcomes amongst a cohort of formerly homeless youth in Aotearoa New Zealand

Brodie Fraser  1 , Saera Chun  1 , Tiria Pehi  1 , Terence Jiang  1 , Ellie Johnson  1 , Jenny Ombler  1 , Carole McMinn  2 , Nevil Pierse  1
Affiliations

Post-housing first outcomes amongst a cohort of formerly homeless youth in Aotearoa New Zealand

Brodie Fraser et al. J R Soc N Z. .

Abstract

This paper explores the government service interactions for a cohort of formerly homeless youth in Aotearoa New Zealand, using linked administrative data. We report the rates of service interactions pre- and post-housing for a cohort of 69 youth, aged 18-25 years old, who received housing and support from a Housing First provider. 60.9% were women, and 69.6% were Māori. Very high rates of service interactions were seen both before and after they were housed. The evidence shows promising potential improvements in young people's lives when housed. The most significant changes we saw in the one and two years post-housing were in incomes from both wages/salaries and social welfare benefits; there was a significant increase in total income for our cohort. There was also a promising reduction in hospitalisations and emergency deparment admissions. Overall, Housing First shows promising outcomes for youth.

Keywords: Aotearoa New Zealand; Homelessness; housing first; intervention; linked data; outcomes; youth.

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Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

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