Future of supported housing, House of Commons, Thursday 18 January 2018

We are pleased that the Government has listened to the concerns raised by the LGA, as well as in the report of the joint select committee inquiry, and decided not to apply the Local Housing Allowance Rate to supported housing or wider social housing.


Key messages

  • Councils have a responsibility to support, safeguard, care for and house vulnerable members of their community. The provision of supported housing is vital to ensuring vulnerable people live in suitable homes that meet their personal and all-round housing, health and care needs.
  • We are pleased that the Government has listened to the concerns raised by the LGA, as well as in the report of the joint select committee inquiry, and decided not to apply the Local Housing Allowance Rate to supported housing or wider social housing. The Government’s revised proposals are an opportunity to strengthen local commissioning and deliver a sustainable funding solution that maintains and increases supply in accordance with local need.
  • Government must ensure sufficient funding is provided through the proposed ring-fence grant for short-term supported housing now and in the long-term. Multi-year grant settlements will give providers the certainty they need to continue investing in supported housing for vulnerable people. Given the funding pressures facing councils, there must no expectation that councils can plug any funding gap.
  • Councils must be funded as soon as possible through the New Burdens process to evaluate need and set up the ongoing systems needed to implement the proposed changes to short-term accommodation.
  • In relation to the proposals for sheltered and extra care accommodation, we encourage the Government to work with providers and commissioners in setting sheltered rent levels that secure better cost control but adequately fund all of the housing costs, including the higher costs for extra care housing. We support exploring the principle of a banded approach to ensure that the higher costs for extra care housing are funded.
  • The LGA welcomes the Government’s decision to delay the implementation of any changes to funding supported housing until April 2020. We are calling on Government to consider transitional arrangements that will allow sufficient time to properly involve councils in developing the detail, test the new approaches in different places, and get ready for implementation.
  • Any reform of funding for supported housing has to take into account how the support element is funded, particularly within adult social care, and not just the housing element. Between 2010 and 2020, councils will have seen reductions of £16 billion to core Government funding. Local services face a funding gap of at least £5.8 billion by 2019/20 and a £1.3 billion pressure to stabilise the adult social care provider market today.
  • Councils, as local public services accountable to their residents, are best placed to determine and deliver the housing, health and social care needs of their communities. As such, it makes sense for councils to use their commissioning role to gain an oversight of the quality, provision and long-term planning of supported housing.

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Future of supported housing, House of Commons, Thursday 18 January 2018