The Supporters Club

Against the backdrop of a full and exciting news agenda, the Government’s announcement of “Local Supported Housing Strategies” failed to capture the imagination of the media.

The requirement for local authorities to prepare a strategy for supported housing was included in the catchily titled, “Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023. The thrust of the act was to deal with profiteering by unscrupulous providers of expensive, poor quality housing for vulnerable people designed mainly to milk as much money as possible from the housing benefit system. That those in the greatest need were the vehicles to enrich such people was particularly disgusting.

The Act gives local authorities greater regulatory powers over ‘supported housing’ which fell between the regulatory cracks between council private sector regimes and the Care Quality Commission.

The latest guidance requires councils to create an evidenced policy framework for identifying, and hopefully encouraging, the supported housing needed in its area. Each authority will need to set up a local partnership involving relevant statutory organisations (health, care, probation), supported housing providers (housing associations, charities and reputable private organisations) and representatives of service users (residents, potential residents, families and carers).

The partnership will be led by the councils and will have to carry out a needs assessment. These will identify the need for a range of housing including; older people’s supported housing (such as extra care and sheltered housing), Long term supported housing (including supported living, with a focus on exempt housing – this is housing which is exempt from the local housing allowance limit on housing benefit) and Transitional supported housing (supported housing which is more short term, for example preparing people for living completely independently).

The assessments will quantify existing provision, the levels of need and the gap between the two. This should be developed into a five year and ten year plan. Its seems likely that this will need to be consistent with adult social care accommodation and homelessness strategy plans. The guidance sets out in detail the documents and data sources to be consulted.

Once the need has been agreed the authority must produce a delivery plan to meet it. These plans need to identify funding sources, land and other assets and link into existing commissioning arrangements.

The Government is keen to see consistency in how the information is collated and that there are arrangements for collaboration across borders.

These assessments and plans will be fundamentally important for meeting the housing needs of those who are often ignored in or sidelined by general housing and planning approaches. To see these wider requirements being brought into local housing strategies has the potential to be transformational and bring many silent voices into the housing provision plans.