We are a leading authority on the connection between NHS provider organisations and Housing Associations – we work extensively across the country with mental health trusts, housing and housing support providers, and commissioners to reform care pathways with a stronger connection with housing.
This briefing reviews the experience of integrating health and housing services. It identifies the lessons from this experience and suggests ways in which integrated care systems and their partners can better integrate health, housing and housing-related services. It also explores how this can best be achieved in practice to deliver good outcomes for people seriously affected by mental illness and to improve population mental health.
It highlights that successful integration between housing and health is based on:
1. Considering housing needs and options at each stage of the pathway
2. Embedding housing expertise in multi-disciplinary teams
3. Developing a share understanding of risk
4. Defining a shared approach to quality, and
5. Developing step-down accommodation for those with complex needs.
Providing effective housing support to ensure people leaving hospital with mental health problems are both adequately housed and provided with the necessary support is essential if we are to provide stability and achieve positive social and psychological outcomes.