Supported Living is a service designed to help people with a wide range of support needs to retain their independence by being supported in their own home. People in supported living have their own tenancy and are responsible for their own bills and cost of living.
Supported Living is largely the preferred choice of home and support for people with learning disabilities and increasingly for people with physical disabilities and mental health issues. Supported Living is a regulated registered care service but is not residential or nursing care. People live as independent a life as possible with “Support” in a homely setting, often in a house, bungalow or apartment close to their community to maintain social and family ties.
People in Supported Living have their own tenancy and ideally their own front door. To afford these, the person may be entitled to a wide range of benefits and grants. In Supported Living, the support provider is different to the housing provider. If the support provider changes, this doesn’t affect the tenancy. The person has security of tenure – they can only be made to leave under certain circumstances, usually by order of a court.
The local authority where the individual resides has a duty of care to support them with both accommodation and care. Unfortunately, due to a lack of appropriate property throughout the UK, this can often result in the disabled people being retained in hospital or placed in a care home until suitable accommodation can be found, both at significant cost to the public purse and the individuals ability to live as full and fulfilling a life, as possible.
Supported Living is also a cost-effective solution, being far cheaper than institutional care. With the right support, people gain greater independence, and as they do, become less reliant on health and social care services, also saving costs and increasing positive outcomes for people.
Homes are typically provided through registered providers of social housing (RPs) or charities.
The cost of providing Supported Living and maintaining it was identified by Government to be significantly higher than normal “social housing” and therefore the Government introduced exemptions from the rent standards for RP’s, which removed Local Housing Allowance (LHA) Housing Benefit rent caps.
The accommodation is typically paid for through Housing Benefit claims by the individual or the RP on their behalf through the Department for Works and Pension (DWP) and this uncapped rent standard called “Exempt Rents” allows RP’s to fund the purchase/build/renovation of property specifically for an individual’s needs within their community.
Specialist Supported Housing (SSH) is effectively a home where any person may choose to live; a “normal” house in a normal suburban street. The goal of SSH is that it is a home, not an institution, and therefore it should not be identified as anything other than a home.
Property types can range from bungalows specifically adapted for disabilities all the way to apartments within a normal domestic block of apartments and every type of family property in between. Supported Living is supporting people to live within their home, not forcing them to exist in care.