There is consistent research suggesting a correlation between housing instability and re-offending rates in Australia. As a response to this issue, housing provision and support has been proposed as a key component of interventions to reduce re-offending.

There is a lack of evidence syntheses focusing on the effectiveness of housing interventions that seek specifically to reduce re-offending rates, thus, a rapid systematic review on this subject was undertaken.

To delve deeper into this subject, the Evidence Review Services (ERS) Team was commissioned by the Paul Ramsay Foundation to conduct a rapid systematic review. The ERS Team conducted an extensive literature search on four scientific databases, including Scopus, Google Scholar and Social Systems Evidence databases.

Key findings:

• Housing provision, either temporary or permanent, is likely a 'necessary, but not sufficient' programming component to reduce re-offending/recidivism in adults. Coupling housing provision with other services is clearly the predominant approach and is merited based on the findings. The majority of the 'effective interventions' supported participants with additional services described as either being specific to a cohort (e.g., mental health support) or wraparound services (i.e., individualised case support across a range of complex needs).
• Authors from several studies speculate that housing-alone interventions are unlikely to be as effective as those provided in conjunction with other supports, however this hypothesis is not well tested empirically.
• Permanent or long-term housing with wraparound supports may reduce rates of rearrest (Fontaine 2013), increase time to first post-release arrest (Listwan 2018), reduce rates of reconviction (Somers 2013), reduce rates of reincarceration (Fontaine 2013), or reduce reoffending (Ellison 2013).
• Temporary housing programs targeting individuals with mental health or substance abuse support needs found that temporary housing with mental health services may also be effective. Bruce (2014) found significantly reduced odds of reoffending among program participants. Hsieh (2016) observed reductions in recidivism, but these were not statistically significant.
• Housing voucher programs that help people avoid homelessness may also be effective. Hamilton (2015) found marginally significant reductions in reincarceration.