Supported housing is in disaster, letter to PM Keir Starmer says

Supported housing, which helps susceptible or disabled individuals stay independently, is in disaster, an open letter signed by greater than 170 organisations within the sector claims.

Companies at one in three suppliers in England needed to shut final yr, including to a complete shortfall of about 325,000 locations, says the letter, which will probably be delivered to Prime Minister Keir Starmer as we speak. Signatories to it embrace Refuge, Age UK and the Nationwide Housing Federation (NHF).

Blaming cuts to council funding and rising prices, the NHF says an extra one in three suppliers concern they could shut until the federal government pledges more cash.

The federal government says supported housing is significant and it’s centered on constructing extra houses.

About half 1,000,000 individuals within the UK at the moment stay in supported housing, together with younger care leavers, military veterans, individuals with studying disabilities and people escaping homelessness or home abuse.

“Supported housing performs an indispensable position in chopping NHS ready checklist backlogs, and lowering stress on social care, momentary lodging, and different important public providers,” the open letter says.

Nevertheless, it says the way forward for supported housing is now in danger following “years of funding cuts” and that native authorities have now been pressured to “decommission important providers”.

“Rising prices alongside diminished funding have rendered many providers unviable, forcing many to shut, whereas demand for supported housing continues to rise. The choice to extend employers’ Nationwide Insurance coverage contributions has positioned even additional stress on suppliers’ budgets.”

The organisations are calling for long-term elevated funding for housing-related help of not less than £1.6bn per yr for councils and for supported houses to be among the many 1.5 million new homes deliberate by the federal government.

“We recognise the important position performed by supported housing in serving to susceptible individuals to stay independently and nicely, and the contribution it makes to tackling tough sleeping and well timed hospital discharge,” a spokesperson for the Division for Housing, Communities and Native Authorities stated.

The spokesperson stated the federal government was placing £2bn into rising social and reasonably priced housebuilding in 2026-27, with additional particulars to be set out in a long-term housing technique later this yr.

Proponents of austerity measures say robust funding decisions should be made to stability the UK’s funds.

Nevertheless, Shaoxiong Liu says his household have no idea what they’d have executed and not using a supported housing place for his son Jason.

Aged 39, Jason has autism, a studying incapacity and psychological well being challenges. As he grew older, this grew to become more and more unmanageable for his household. After falling unwell, Jason was admitted to hospital with sepsis in 2017.

Because of his difficult behaviour and a situation that induces extreme vomiting, he remained in hospital for months as they struggled to search out someplace long run that might accommodate his wants.

He was ultimately positioned with Advance Housing, the place his household says Jason has flourished within the intervening eight years. His weight has risen from 35kg to 53kg, he can go on bus journeys and attends social occasions organised by the housing supplier.

“Jason’s behaviour is so significantly better now. He is lived there so lengthy and he is completely happy there,” Mr Liu says. “Jason is an grownup now and we’re in our 70s, so his behaviour may very well be fairly harmful for us if he lived with us – we could not take care of him.”

The NHF says one in three suppliers in England it surveyed say they could need to cease offering providers altogether, that means the lack of 70,000 supported houses throughout the nation.

In 2009, ringfenced council funding for housing-related help was eliminated. When council budgets had been minimize throughout austerity from 2010, funding was wanted in different areas, that means some councils needed to minimize supported housing providers.

The NHF says which means there at the moment are fewer supported houses than in 2007, together with a internet lack of 3,000 supported houses within the final three years. It calculates there’s a whole shortfall of as much as 325,000 supported houses, primarily based on unmet want.