Disability Housing Outcomes Framework

The Disability Housing Outcomes Framework is a free resource designed by and for stakeholders across the disability sector, with a particular focus on providers of disability housing and in-home supports. The purpose of the project is to enable providers to better understand the drivers of good outcomes for people with disability.

The Framework helps Specialist Disability Accommodation (SDA) and Supported Independent Living (SIL) providers understand what ‘good’ looks like, implement an outcomes-focused approach, promote consistency, and facilitate a learning culture.

Kevin’s story

After experiencing a stroke, Kevin lived in a hospital for 2 years.

After many failed attempts at finding a suitable, long-term place to live, he has finally moved into a new home in Mount Colah NSW, purpose-built by DHOF partner Good Housing.

DHOF website

The project

Disability housing and funding models are changing, and governments are looking to ensure value for money. Customers have more choice and expectations are growing, and providers need to demonstrate responsiveness and impact. Yet, there is no consistency in the approach to collecting or analysing data. This makes it difficult to know what ‘good’ looks like, or compare and learn about what is working in the sector.

In this context, SVA Consulting partnered with leading SDA and SIL providers, people with disability, key sector organisations, representative peak bodies, funders, academics and thought leaders to codevelop a common outcomes framework to understand the impact of housing and in-home supports on the lives of people with disability.

The objective

To define a common outcomes framework for disability housing, promote an understanding of what good looks like in disability housing – particularly at the intersection of housing and in-home support – and provide common language for providers to use to share learning and drive improvement across the sector.

The role we played

SVA Consulting has been working with a coalition of SDA housing and SIL providers and a national representative peak body through a steering committee to develop the Framework. This includes deep engagement with relevant stakeholders throughout the process including people with disability, housing and support providers, allied health professionals, Disability People’s Organisations, peak bodies, and academics.

The first stage of work involved establishing the architecture for the Framework. Key criteria driving the development of the framework included ensuring that it was:

meaningful for people with disability
useful for providers to prove and improve their practice, and
practical to implement.

The Framework draws extensively on best and emerging practice in literature across housing, disability, and outcomes measurement nationally and internationally, ensuring it builds on what is already working across the sector.

Project impact

The Framework itself was finalised in December 2020 and is freely available to the sector on the project website.

The work is ongoing, with current work focusing on codesigning a bespoke tool to collect data to understand progress against the Framework and support the implementation within organisations. A preliminary pilot will commence in July 2021 to test the Framework and tools in practice, with a broader industry pilot slated for early in 2022.

To ensure it is meaningful and practical, the Framework has been developed in partnership with people and organisations across the sector including people with disability, representative and industry peak bodies, disability and housing providers, funders, academics, and thought leaders.

The coalition includes stakeholders from across the disability sector:

Meet the team

Principal, Consulting Sam Thorp