This Evidence Brief presents key findings from Taylor Fry’s Pathways to homelessness report about people who are rough sleeping in NSW. The authors also discuss implications for policy and practice. By better understanding pathways to homelessness, supports can be put in place sooner to avoid people at risk of rough sleeping becoming homeless in the future. The analysis uses a linked dataset that includes Specialist Homelessness Services and 18 other NSW Government and Commonwealth services.

• People sleeping rough tend to be male and older, with a history of intensive service use across a range of government services. 
• Aboriginal people are heavily overrepresented among people sleeping rough, at around 30% of rough sleeping presentations to Specialist Homelessness Services (SHS).
• The Taylor Fry analysis shows that people sleeping rough presenting to homelessness services are more likely to access a wide range of other government services, including health, justice and Legal Aid. 
• Custody, prior court appearances, welfare service use (rent assistance) and mental health emergency department presentations strongly predict future rough sleeping. People at the highest risk of rough sleeping have a crime victimisation rate 17 times higher than the general population, highlighting the vulnerability of people without a safe place to reside.
• The analysis points to a number of strong potential early intervention points for people sleeping rough including custody exits, presentations to an emergency department for mental health, court appearances, Legal Aid and walk-in mental health services.
• The analysis can be used to increase early identification of at-risk groups and inform the development of intervention strategies and programs to support people before they start sleeping rough and enter the homelessness service system.