Evaluation (2022) of Community Living Supports (CLS) and Housing and Accommodation Support Initiative (HASI)

The Housing and Accommodation Support Initiative (HASI) and Community Living Support (CLS) programs are part of a suite of community-based psychosocial support programs for adults called the NSW Mental Health Community Living Programs.

HASI and CLS are statewide community-based programs that support people with severe mental illness to live and participate in the community, the way that they want to. The programs offer psychosocial support, tenancy support in partnership with clinical mental health services. Many consumers are also supported to access secure housing.

Together HASI/CLS now support over 1,799 people with severe mental illness across NSW.

The Ministry commissioned the Social Policy Research Centre (SPRC) at UNSW to evaluate the HASI/CLS programs. The 3-year longitudinal evaluation ran from November 2017 to January 2020, with final analysis completed in 2021.

HASI commenced in 2002 and is now in its twentieth year of operation. The evaluation shows that HASI and CLS are generally working well, achieving their goals and are cost effective.

Summary

Consumers liked the programs, and most experienced positive outcomes – overall the programs improved wellbeing, helped people better manage their mental health, enhanced aspects of consumers' physical health and increased opportunities for social inclusion.
Consumer contact with community mental health services decreased by 10% in the first year in HASI-CLS and was 63.7% less if they remained in the programs for more than one year.
Hospital admissions due to mental health decreased by 74% following program entry, and the average length of stay decreased by 74.8% over two years. This improvement was sustained after consumers exited the programs.
Consumers with a new charge in the criminal justice system and with community corrections orders dropped to almost zero in the year after program entry.
The programs are generating more in cost offsets than the cost of the programs, with a net cost saving per person of about $86,000 over 5 years. Over 90% of the cost offsets were for reduced inpatient hospital admissions and lower lengths of stay.
As the NDIS became established during the evaluation period, more consumers gained access to the NDIS before, during or to support exit from HASI-CLS.