Bids requested for £20m programme to tackle inadequate supported housing

by Aysha Gilmore
in 151 News · Funding · Housing
— 4 Jul, 2022

The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) has launched a £20m programme to help councils tackle poor quality and expensive supported housing.

The Supported Housing Improvement Programme will give local authorities new powers to help drive landlords out of the market where they exploit vulnerable residents by charging high rents for poor accommodation.

Eddie Hughes, minister for rough sleeping and housing, said: “I’m pleased to open our Supported Housing Improvement Programme for bids today [2 July].

“We want vulnerable residents living in supported housing to have safe, appropriate accommodation, which meets their needs and can help them move onto more independent living.”

Supported housing provides accommodation alongside care, support or supervision, helping vulnerable people across the country.

While the funding call is open to all local authorities in England, DLUHC said it was particularly interested in bids from councils that are experiencing significant impacts from poor-quality supported housing provision in their area. The deadline to submit bids is 2 September 2022.

The programme outlines measures including minimum standards for the support provided to residents to help their progress towards living independently, and changes to Housing Benefit regulations to seek to define care, support, and supervision to improve quality across all specified supported housing provision.

It follows five successful pilots in Birmingham, Blackburn with Darwen, Blackpool, Bristol and Hull.

Hughes added: “This [the programme] will build on the momentum from our successful pilots, helping councils in the worst-affected areas to tackle bad quality and poor value for money in supported housing, while preserving good provision by responsible providers.”