Lack of suitable homes stopping supported tenants from moving on

New research, commissioned by the National Housing Federation (NHF), revealed more than half of people ready to move on from supported housing are being blocked by a lack of suitable homes.

The research – by Imogen Blood Associates, an innovative multi-agency collaboration of top social researchers and professionals, was based on an ‘census’ completed by keyworkers about the experiences of more than 2000 people living in supported accommodation.

Experts also conducted qualitative interviews with 30 professionals working for housing associations, the NHS and key organisations within the homeless sector. They revealed that supported housing is playing a ‘vital’ role in helping some of the most vulnerable homeless people get back on their feet, but progress is being put at risk by financial pressures within the sector and a lack of ‘move-on’ housing.

Experts revealed 55% of residents who lived in transitional supported housing units were being moved into a settled tenancy when they snapshot was taken, but this was not possible for 54% of these people because finding a suitable move-on option was ‘proving difficult’.

Supported housing offers a range of interventions aimed at helping homeless people with complex needs to become more independent – for example, learning practical skills such as cooking.

For the first time, the new report reveals the scale of the challenge within the sector to meet the complex needs of residents – 56% of respondents had a diagnosed mental health condition and 26% had previously experienced domestic abuse, rising to 51% amongst women.

Alongside this, 40% of people that were surveyed had a problematic history of substance use and 60% were deemed ‘vulnerable to exploitation or abuse from others.’

However, the report concluded that supported housing had helped vulnerable people and claimed that without the support, there would be an increase in homelessness of 41,000 people, a need for 2,500 extra places in residential care, and a need for an additional 14,000 inpatient psychiatric places costing £170,000 each per year.

But the report warned that supported housing was being caught in a ‘funding pincer’ caused by a decade of cuts to local funding for housing related support, a lack of social housing for people to ‘move on’ to, and soaring inflation costs.

The report highlighted that the value of housing support contracts issues by local authorities had not increased in line with inflation.

‘Diminishing budgets means that some housing support contracts were felt to e financially non-viable or even unsafe’, researchers found.

Reduced contract values also made it harder to pay staff much above minimum wage to manage increasing levels of risk and complexity and providers reported increased costs including energy, fuel, building materials and staff.

Kate Henderson, Chief Executive of the NHF, said: ‘This research highlights the transformative impact supported housing can have on people’s lives. It is the combination of stable housing and tailored support that helps people to make progress in all aspects of their life, from health to employment.

‘We need more supported housing to meet an ever-increasing need. Government investment in new supported housing would allow for people to ‘move on’ from transitional services, such as a refuge for survivors of domestic abuse, when they are ready and access a longer term supported home.

‘In turn, this means transitional services can continue to meet the most acute need and support more people to transform their lives.’

The report was also produced in partnership with the University of York Centre for Housing Policy.

Image: Alexander Trukhin