Supported Exempt Accommodation

What is supported housing and exempt accommodation?

Supported housing exists to ensure people with support needs can lead a healthy and fulfilling life within their own home and community.

Supported housing is any housing scheme where housing, support and care services are provided as an integrated package. This scheme is of two types. The first being long-term, is designed for people who need ongoing support to live independently. The other is, the short-term, designed to help people develop the emotional and practical skills needed to move into more mainstream housing. Supported housing services range widely, but they play a vital role in providing a secure home with support for people to live independently. This includes but not limited to :

• providing the support older people need to maintain their independence
  providing emergency refuge and support for victims of domestic violence, helping them to lead a normal life.
• working with homeless people with complex and multiple needs to help them make the transition from life on the street to a life of sanity
• supporting people with mental health needs to stabilise their lives, recover and live more independently
• supporting ex-servicemen and women to find a stable home, including support for those with mental health and physical disability needs
• supporting people with learning disabilities in the longer term to maximise their independence Supported housing is often provided in partnership with a range of organisations and usually requires higher levels of funding.

Exempt accommodation is a term used to describe supported accommodation where the rules that normally limit the amount of rent covered by a housing benefit award do not apply.

Is supported housing costly?

Supported housing costs differ from general needs social housing because support and care services are provided in addition to housing management. This means that more staff are needed, and often adaptations to homes are required, which both increase costs.

However, the alternatives costs more. In 2010, it was estimated that supported housing delivers net annual savings to the public purse of around £640m across all client groups, or just under £1,000 per person per year.

At any one time, over 600,000 people rely on supported housing to provide a secure place to live and to offer appropriate care and support. Absence supported housing, would mean a lack of appropriate support for people that are in need. This would ultimately result in huge costs to public services and, in certain cases, create serious antisocial behaviour problems. We ensure our housing charges are affordable for local authorities, with their approval on rent settings which are designed by Ash-Shahada to provide suitable housing. 

Appropriate housing and support is vital for helping people to move on from dependency to an independent, healthy life. It also connects people to services, work and training opportunities and social contacts.

Ash-Shahada: Our Mission

To provide decent and affordable social housing and Housing Plus services in an effective, efficient and responsive manner, to meet the needs of Muslims and other ethnic minorities in our local communities. Ash-Shahada is a provider of Social Housing, providing housing in hostels, flats and houses in the Lambeth and Southwark areas.