Housing and employment go hand in hand

Results show that for people who have experienced homelessness, specialised employment support can enable them to further achieve independence and fulfil their potential.

“We believe that people shouldn’t have to put their employment goals on hold because they have experienced homelessness or instability with their housing,” says Tyron Pini, General Manager at Workwise.

Workwise has grown its offering of employment support in the housing space over the past seven years by partnering with LinkPeople and The People’s Project who provide Housing First services.

This means that employment support is provided as soon as it’s required and coordinated with the person’s housing needs. Workwise, LinkPeople and The People’s Project are part of the Wise Group, a family of organisations that provide a range of mental health, addiction, housing and wellbeing services across Aotearoa.

“Having employment support integrated with housing support is a smart way to combine strengths and see results for a person and their whānau. We know that our evidence-based approach works,” says Tyron.

In the past three years, more than 400 people in Housing First programmes received assistance from Workwise to successfully secure 127 jobs, with 61% of these being full-time work. On top of this, people took up 55 other study, work experience or volunteer placements.

Warren Elwin, chief executive of Workwise, explains how these outcomes are due to the Wise Group’s commitment to integrating housing and IPS employment support services in Hamilton, Tauranga and more recently, South Auckland.

“Having a job can be a foundation for intergenerational change, transforming households where people may have been long-term unemployed, into working families,” says Warren, reflecting on the collective impact of the partnerships.

“Simply put, having families that work sets people up for better long-term outcomes,” he added.

In September, Workwise, LinkPeople and The People’s Project had the opportunity to meet with Minister Nicola Willis in her capacity as Minister for Social Investment, to talk about the work we do, as well as how we work together in integrating employment and housing support. The Minister was on a visit to the Wise Group offices in Hamilton.

“We’re ready to do more in this space, including raising awareness, developing practice and widening relationships. These are some of the themes I’ll be sharing at an upcoming community housing conference in November,” adds Tyron.