What are the impacts of living in social housing?

A look at how social housing affects a person’s life

In this technical paper, we examine how social housing affects important aspects of a person's life. These aspects include:

• employment
• education
• physical and mental health
• the likelihood of going to jail or becoming homeless.

This study compares outcomes for similar people, some who live in social housing and some who don’t. It looks at outcomes over a 3-year period.

The work also suggests future research needs in social housing to help government and the community sector make better investments.

Key findings

• People at risk of homelessness are much less likely to become homeless if they live in social housing.
• In the short term, people who live in social housing have similar employment, health and other outcomes to those who don't. This may reflect priority access to limited social housing or a lack of data, such as the type of housing.
• Future research should look at how outcomes may vary for different groups, such as young people. This requires new data.