Housing researchers Dr Guy Johnson and Professor Chris Chamberlain have recently argued for a 'housing first' approach, that offers people permanent housing to homeless people without first putting conditions on their behaviour.
The concept flies in the face of politicians and welfare agencies in Australia, where it seems the idea of 'conditionality' has never been so popular. It's almost as if there's a race to think of new ways of making welfare support conditional on responsible behavior.
There's an assumption that jobs, housing and a secure income are available to anyone willing to take advantage of education, training and job opportunities. And for those temporarily down on their luck, there are things like welfare-to-work programs and mental health services. So if disadvantage persists, it can only be because some people refuse to be helped.
Conditionality is also popular with the broader public. Most of us believe in equality of opportunity rather than equality of outcomes. When we are doing alright, it's tempting to think it's because we are setting our alarm clocks early, showing up to work and putting in the effort. People who are unwilling to take advantage of the opportunities available have no one to blame but themselves. It's only fair that their welfare support should be conditional on how they behave.
But sometimes conditionality just doesn't work. Homelessness is a prime example.
In the latest Australian Journal of Social Issues, Johnson and Chamberlain argue that policy responses to the homeless mentally ill often fail because they expect people to accept treatment before offering them a place to live. This approach assumes that problems such as mental illness are the root cause of homelessness, and insists that people take responsibility for straightening themselves out before we 'reward' them with housing.
But as Johnson and Chamberlain explain, most people who are homeless do not have a mental illness and, in some cases, mental illness is a consequence, raather than a cause, of homelessness. Research by the Sacred Heart Mission suggests more than half of its clients developed a mental health problem after becoming homeless.
Homelessness has many causes. Many of those have little or nothing to do with individual behaviour. Family breakdown, the death of a spouse or parent, the high cost of housing