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There is very little research in Australia or internationally, that examines the long-term impact on people’s housing and overall wellbeing after they leave homelessness services. This study addresses that gap. A strength of the study is that it looks at outcomes across three homelessness services, where most studies examine only one program at a time. Although this research does not examine the entire Mission Australia services cohort in Cairns, it provides valuable insights for the broader homelessness sector to inform service design, policy and system reform.

The research is investigating four questions:

1. What have been the longer-term housing outcomes and changes in well-being of people after exiting into stable housing from Mission Australia's homelessness services in Cairns?
2. What have been the housing journeys of people since exit?
3. What factors have supported and/or hindered peoples' housing outcomes?
4. What improvements to service design and delivery could be made that support improved long-term housing outcomes?

The project uses a mixed-methods approach:

1. Baseline analysis: review of established program results and data that measure and capture the immediate outcomes and impacts of each of the services.
2. Analysis of longer-term housing outcomes and journeys: interviews with people who had engaged in each of Mission Australia's services in Cairns to understand their post-service housing journeys and outcomes; focus groups with case workers.

���������researchers have conducted 14 interviews with people who had previously been engaged in one or more of the three services.

With 75% of people across the services identifying as First Nations, interviews were led by AHURI’s Principal First Nations Adviser and used a truth telling approach to facilitate open, deep and constructive engagement. In addition, ���������researchers conducted two focus groups with 6 staff across the three services.