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Supported Housing Changes !
I believe I am correct in believing that housing benefit will be continued to be paid to clients residing at Supported Accommodation via the Local Authorities and will not be part of their UC. Is this correct or has the Government decided to do something else eg alter the definition itself to what exactly supported accomm actually is etc. Secondly are there any safeguards for vulnerable leaving supported housing moving to private rented accomm on their own etc. Many thanks.
I think we can expect UC to cover supported accommodation - the ringfenced local fund replaces everything that’s difficult about HB in that sector so there is no longer any need to keep it out of UC. Having said that, if people in supported accommodation are not going to be restricted to the shared accommodation LHA rate there is still a tiny bit of complexity which will require different treatment of accommodation meeting a certain definition - but perhaps the definition will change to make it more clear-cut for UC.
Hi John.
The current situation for supported Housing is:
HB covers the core rent and managemnt of the building in FULL
Supporting People pays for the support at LA DISCRETION
From 2019-20:
UC (Housing costs) will cover the core rent up to the LHA rate One Bedroom Rate.
Any shortfall to the core rent might be funded at LA DISCRETION.
Supporting people pays for the support at LA DISCRETION.
So where for example the LHA rate is high eg London then there might not be a need for a LA to use discretion to top up the LHA rate…Where it is low (The North) the Top up will need to be very high…..
The Government is still consulting how this will work, but has advised that any monies to the LA for topping up puposes will be ringfenced.
Many thanks for the updates.
So can I just check, OK supported accommodation, regardless of whether you have a non residential overnight carer, you will be capped at the one bed rate and any shortfall will be topped up by supporting people?
I think the idea is that supported accommodation won’t be treated any differently from any other kind of accommodation in the benefits system, so the same LHA rules will apply across the board except perhaps that the shared accommodation rate won’t apply. Otherwise it will be no different from the rules for general needs private tenants. That means that people with an overnight carer who satisfy the rules for an extra bedroom will still have that.
The ring-fenced local fund will cover everything else.
Many thanks. Does anyone have any ideas how the top up will be applied for? Will that be at the commissioning stage i.e. someone entering in Supported Accommodation?
My understanding is that we will need to move away from thinking of enhanced housing management and maintenance costs as being part of the charge to the individual service user - it will work more like commissioning does now with block contracts and spot contracts awarded to providers. For something like a single homeless project, Councils will say “Here is £1m to run your scheme for the next three years. We have calculated this on the assumption that service users will claim UC or self-fund up to the one-bed LHA so here is what you need for the rest of your costs”. Whereas for supported living schemes Councils will say “Here is the money you need to provide personal support and enhanced housing services (and perhaps even personal care - depends how integrated the commissioning process becomes) to this tenant. We have calculated it on the assumption that s/he will be able to claim UC or self-fund up to the one-bed LHA rate”.
I don’t think there will be any point charging rent/licence payments above LHA rates. What has traditionally been funded as a charge to service users met by HB is being moved into commissioning.
All of this of course is subject to whatever evolves out of the consultation exercise but I believe the above summary is ministers’ provisional preferred approach.
... Councils will say “Here is the money you need ...
Optimist.
So could this mean that previously under exempt accommodation where there is a Housing Association required some element of Housing Management…. care, supervision etc, that a Housing Association status will no longer be required? You could just operate as a private landlord?
That is possible yes.
There are two issues that currently account for inordinate amounts of time for both local authorities and providers: whether the landlord is a not-for-profit body and whether the landlord (as opposed to a third party) provides more than minimal support. UT Judges sometimes remark that it seems somewhat arbitrary that so much depends on these conditions: after all, if the accommodation is of a decent quality, the support service meets the tenant’s needs and the charges are reasonable, what does it matter who provides the accommodation and who provides the support? Local authorities already commission care and support from a range of providers in the public, private and voluntary sectors applying the “what works” principle.
It is logical that this commissioning flexibility will extend to accommodation costs over and above LHA levels under these reforms. If so it will no longer be necessary for private landlords to set up slightly unconvincing not-for-profit arm’s length companies and it will no longer be necessary for local authorities to spend days and days agonising over whether they really are not-for-profit. Nor will it be necessary for landlords to carve out artificial complementary support roles alongside commissioned care providers because it won’t be a requirement that the landlord itself provides at least some support. I know from my own experience that these issues have affected the Reside/Regard double-act in the past.
I know some people on here think I am perhaps being naiive about this but I think there are a lot of opportunities for decent providers in this shake-up and for commissioners too it is quite an exciting prospect.
I agree that claiming under LHA will potentially be straightforward for the core rent. However, there will still need to be a landlord. As a Housing Association, you adhere to a set of standards and are regulated unlike a private landlord. Even when commissioning for care as a care provider, the funding authority quite rightly expects top notch accommodation to be provided. I just wonder if there will a surge in private landlords claiming the top up funding…..anyway, hopefully there will be clarity after the consultation…