‘Little things that are big’: An evaluation of the YWCA's Women’s Housing Support Program

The YWCA's Women's Housing Support Program (WHSP) offers an important and effective intervention to older women experiencing homelessness, who would otherwise have few specialised housing and support options. Older women’s trajectories into homelessness typically differ from other populations, making a targeted service response that caters to their specific needs, such as provided through the WHSP, crucial. This evaluation provides evidence that the WHSP is successfully delivering an essential service that is achieving beneficial and effective outcomes, particularly in the areas of housing stabilisation, service systems navigation, and pathways into ongoing housing. The WHSP achieves these outcomes through its sustaining tenancies model, which offers flexible support and service delivery, and which is client-centred and trauma-informed. The evaluation employed mixed methods to examine program processes and efficacy that can be used to inform the evidence base and make recommendations for future sustainability and development of the WHSP. This evaluation used both qualitative and quantitative research methods and engaged 17 stakeholders comprising nine clients, four senior managers, three program staff, and one external service provider. In addition to these qualitative data, the evaluators analysed deidentified program administrative data to inform the findings of this report.