New housing scheme announced to help individuals battling addiction

A new service supporting vulnerable people with their housing and substance use has been launched by a charity in Bristol.

 The Specialist Housing Support Service, which was announced yesterday by Bristol charity ARA, Recovery for All, is designed to help people who are struggling with alcohol and/or drug abuse sustain a property tenancy.

According to the charity, which was formed in 1987, nationally one in six people who are in drug and alcohol recovery have an issue with housing. Following this, in February 2023 the government announced a £53m cash boost to be distributed amongst 28 local authorities in England to help them improve housing support for drug and alcohol recovery.

The new scheme is set to be funded until September 2024 and will involve charities, hospitals, prisons, and the council, with them all focusing on finding and keeping homes for vulnerable people and then integrating them into the local community.

Robbie Thornhill, Director of Recovery and Resettlement at ARA, said: ‘Trying to recover when you haven’t got somewhere safe to live, is like trying to drive a car without a steering wheel – you can’t stay on the track.’

Since the charity formed, it is estimated that ARA has helped over 40,000 people with alcohol, drug, gambling, and mental health issues and has saved around £50m in costs to the community.

Vicki Burn, a housing rights worker at Shelter, said: ‘It was really great to hear that such a wrap-around service is going to focus not just on housing, but recovery, mental health, so many things, especially as the city faces a housing emergency.

‘People are very aware if they lose their house, they could be stuck in the system of homelessness.’

However, with the current cost-of-living crisis displaying no signs of reducing anytime soon, affordable homes are hard to come by and it may become difficult to source properties to offer to people battling addiction.

In addition to this new scheme being announced, at the start of the month the Salvation Army launched a new monthly support session in Bristol city, known as Under One Roof, to help tackle the barriers faced by people who are sleeping rough or at risk of homelessness.

Image: Reza Mehrad