Supported Housing

What is Supported Housing?

It is a department that focuses on ensuring that people with varying degrees of Support Needs can manage their own individual tenancies and homes to the best of their ability and level of independence. 

We have specialist staff members that provide support.  We can offer support to the following people: 

Deaf people and their families, Elderly tenants, people with Mental Health issues, people with learning difficulties.   

We also provide more general support for a vast range of issues/needs, for example; people with alcohol/drug misuse problems, people with financial/debt/welfare benefit problems.

Within the team we have an Income Management Officer and their role is to monitor all Housing Benefit claims and individual Rent Accounts on a daily basis, this person will also advise tenants when Housing Benefit expires and establish Payment Plans with tenants who are in Arrears.

What agencies do we work with?

All of our work is done in conjunction with relevant external qualified professionals, such as Community Psychiatric Nurses, Rehabilitation officers, National Deaf Services, Youth Offending Teams, Health visitors, Social Services teams, if these support networks exist. 

In the case where a tenant does not have an effective network we can do referrals to ensure that appropriate services are accessed to improve quality of life.

Does being a Supported Housing tenant cost money?

If you receive Housing Benefit (regardless of whether it is full or partial payment) then you will not have to pay.

Supported Housing has contracts with local ‘Supporting People’ teams (i.e. Wandsworth, Lambeth, and Hammersmith & Fulham) and can apply for funding through this scheme for people with acknowledged support needs.

If you are working it is unlikely that they will have to pay support charges, this is because earned income is disregarded.

If you have savings of between £12,000 and £16,000 you would need to pay some of the support charge. If you have savings above £16K then you may have to pay all of the support charge.

Unearned income, such as DLA will also be taken into account by SP teams and so if people have might levels of benefit income they may be expected to pay some of their support charge.  Although if their support needs mean that their life is more expensive (i.e. they need to use their DLA to pay for interpreters or taxis) then these costs will be taken into account too.

How are people referred to Supported Housing?

There are several ways that tenants can be referred to our service. However, the referral is dependent upon the person(s) consent to work with us.

Application for Housing: When a tenant applies for housing within Harding Housing Association’s stock their application form may detail any current networks in place and what additional support needs a person, or family unit may have. During the application process, all potential new tenants are discussed and agreed at the weekly Lettings Meeting. On this panel are representatives from Housing Management, Tenancy Management Officers, Income Management Officer and Supported Housing staff.  Each application is discussed and, if agreed, the Supported Housing team will contact the tenant and support network to discuss suitability for becoming a Supported Housing tenant. This will lead to an Initial Assessment.

Referral by Support Network Professional: A person currently working with the tenant may contact Supported Housing at any time if the person is experiencing difficulties with managing their Tenancy Agreement or home. This will lead to an Initial Assessment.

Self referral: Tenants can refer themselves if they feel that they are having problems coping with their Tenancy Agreement or home. Again this will lead to an Initial Assessment.

Neighbours or concerned family/friends: If anyone has concerns about the behaviour, wellbeing, health and overall lifestyle issues, they are welcome to contact the department to discus concerns or a possible referral.

Staff: If any member of Harding Housing Association comes into contact with a tenant and they have concerns about the person being able to manage things, then they will contact the team directly. This may lead to an Initial Assessment, providing the tenant(s) are open to discuss things and give consent.

What is an Initial Assessment?

This is the first time that members of Supported Housing will visit tenants to discuss, in depth, what the current support needs are.  At these meetings there is always two members of the Supported Housing team – this is to ensure that the assessment is as objective as possible.

These meetings take some time and all aspects of the person(s) support needs, current personal circumstances, tenancy history and areas of concern are discussed.  It is from this information that a Support Plan can be created.

This meeting will also determine if a tenant needs to be transferred into Supported Housing at all; the time within Supported Housing is dependent upon each individual case.

What is a Support Plan?

These are the agreements that Supported Housing staff create with each tenant(s).  They list all areas, and targets, that the tenant(s) have given to consent to work with.

These plans are a working agreement between the tenant(s) and Supported Housing staff. They cover 7 main areas (however not all may apply):

Rent/Arrears, Mental Health, Medical/Physical Health, Relationships, Budgeting, Maintenance and Housing/Move On.

These Support Plans are reviewed regularly and discussed on each visit with the allocated Supported Housing Officer.

Who allocates the Supported Housing Officer and when do tenants see them?

Prior to and during the Initial Assessment, the Supported Housing Team Leader will discuss the case with a relevant Officer.  The allocation of an officer is dependent upon each individual case.

For example, tenant(s) over 60 would be referred to our Elderly Specialist and Deaf tenant(s) would be referred to our Deaf Specialist.

During the Initial Assessment, an agreed rate of visits will be agreed.  This will vary from case to case; some tenant(s) with a high level of support needs may need a visit every week whereas other tenant(s) may need a monthly visit.

The visit generally occur in the tenant(s) home, as it is a more relaxed environment for them and also takes away having to organise transport/costs to Harding Housing Association’s Head Office.

Each appointment is planned in advance, however Supported Housing tenants are welcome to telephone, Minicom or call into the office if ever they need some assistance.  When they visit they will be seen by their allocated Officer or another member of the team if that person is at another appointment.

Once a Supported Housing tenant, always a Supported Housing tenant?

No, the aim of our department is to promote people’s independent living skills and work towards them being able to cope without our support.

Some tenants are within the department for 6 months and others for 1 – 2 years.  Each case is assessed individually to monitor the progression of each person towards the identified aims/targets.

Some people may have some more long term support needs (i.e. Elderly, learning difficulties) and may need to remain within the department for some time.

However the main ethos of the team is to promote skills and knowledge base for every one of our tenants in order for them to move towards a more independent life.

Please feel free to contact the Supported Housing Team for any further information.