The feasibility of calculating an investment case
Nick O’Shea
Supported housing for people leaving acute hospital for a mental illness may help them to return to independent community living, by offering a bridge between the two. It can provide a supportive environment for people before making the transition to independent living. However, whilst some foundation trusts and housing providers have worked together to create innovative examples, the expansion of supported housing has been unexpectedly limited.
Mental health and housing sets out an evaluation framework which could be adopted by health and housing providers to demonstrate the positive business case for supported housing services.
The briefing finds that existing evaluations have only conveyed some of the benefits delivered by these schemes. It offers a worked example of an investment case to convey what could be presented with further data. This could incentivise investment in these alternatives to acute beds, with the ultimate ambition of improving patients’ lives and reducing the costs of care.
The briefing recommends that housing and health providers reflect on the evaluation framework and the resulting investment case that could be calculated.
