Health Status, Quality of Life, Residential Stability, Substance Use, and Health Care Utilization among Adults Applying to a Supportive Housing Program

Abstract

Supportive housing, defined as subsidized housing in conjunction with sitebased social services, may help improve the health and residential stability of highly disadvantaged individuals. This study examined changes in health status, quality of life, substance use, health care utilization, and residential stability among 112 homeless and vulnerably housed individuals who applied to a supportive housing program in Toronto, Canada, from December 2005 to June 2007. Follow-up interviews were conducted every 6 months for 18 months. Comparisons were made between individuals who were accepted into the program (intervention) and those who were wait-listed (usual care) using repeatedmeasures analyses. Individuals who were accepted into the housing program experienced significantly greater improvements in satisfaction with living situation compared with individuals in the usual care group (time, F 3,3,261 =47.68, pG0.01; group×time, F 3,3,261 = 14.60, pG0.01). There were no significant differences in other quality of life measures, health status, health care utilization, or substance use between the two groups over time. Significant improvement in residential stability occurred over time, independent of assigned housing group (time, F 3,3,261 =9.96, pG0.01; group×time, F 3,3,261 =1.74, p= 0.17). The ability to examine the effects of supportive housing on homeless individuals was limited by the small number of participants who were literally homeless at baseline and by the large number of participants who gained stable housing during the study period regardless of their assigned housing status. Nonetheless, this study shows that highly disadvantaged individuals with a high prevalence of poor physical and mental health and substance use can achieve stable housing.

Housing Assistance Programs and Adult Health in the United States

“…2 Housing quality and location have been shown to be related to physical and mental health, 3,4 exposure to environmental toxins, 5 and access to health care and services. 6,7 Studies indicate that improvement in housing quality can have beneficial impacts on the health and well-being of low-income families. 8 …”

Efficacité de l’approche « logement d’abord » : une revue systématique

“…D'autres résultats montrent plutôt que l'approche « logement d'abord » n'a pas davantage d'effets sur la santé mentale (Hwang et al, 2011 ;Latimer et al, 2013 ;Mares & Rosenheck, 2011 ;Sadowski et al, 2009), la santé physique (Hwang et al, 2011 ;Latimer et al, 2013 ;Mares & Rosenheck, 2011 ;Sadowski et al, 2009), la consommation de substances (Hwang et al, 2011 ;Latimer et al, 2013 ;Mares & Rosenheck, 2011) et le soutien social (Mares & Rosenheck, 2011) que l'accès aux services usuels (tableau 6). Les résultats de l'étude de Hwang et al (2011) peuvent porter à confusion : les participants ayant eu accès au programme basé sur l'approche « logement d'abord » présentaient un moins bon état de santé mentale et une consommation moins probléma-tique de substances que ceux qui avaient eu accès aux services usuels seulement.…”

“…Les résultats de l'étude de Hwang et al (2011) peuvent porter à confusion : les participants ayant eu accès au programme basé sur l'approche « logement d'abord » présentaient un moins bon état de santé mentale et une consommation moins probléma-tique de substances que ceux qui avaient eu accès aux services usuels seulement. Ces différences étaient toutefois présentes dès le début de l'étude, ce qui signifie que leur état est demeuré stable tout au long de l'étude.…”

Families’ Satisfaction With Public Housing in Saudi Arabia and Its Effect on the Quality of Their Lives

“…Additionally, Seongyeon and Christine (2009) stated that "individual well-being is affected by satisfaction with specific life domains such as housing" (p. 377; see Figure 1). The idea that satisfying housing needs will alleviate poverty was (2011) and Hwang et al (2011). On the same argument, Costanza et al (2008) successfully integrated the concepts of social needs with the multifaceted concept of quality of life: "[Q]uality of life is the extent to which objective human needs are fulfilled in relation to personal or group perceptions of human needs, basic needs for subsistence, reproduction, security, affection, etc."…”

“…Supportive housing services are integrated into the housing setting with ample opportunity for residents to participate and gain access to such services. However, in supported housing, residents live independently and access regular housing in the community (Hwang et al, 2011). Although a number of studies have investigated the outcomes of housing projects, there is still a lack of research on how these projects influence the life of the beneficiary families.…”