Placeshapers calls for national supported housing fund

A government consultation into the future of supported housing funding ends on 13 February.

Instead of councils allocating funding, Placeshapers – which represents 116 “community-focused” landlords – is calling for a national supported housing allowance and cap that reflect the “true cost” of developing and maintaining supported housing.

The government has proposed giving councils control of a supported housing top-up fund and an “enhanced role” in commissioning supported housing.

But councils have told Placeshapers they do not have the capacity to distribute the top-up funding. The group said the government must provide funding for the administration of the top-up scheme if it decides to take this approach.

Placeshapers said in its response to the consultation that it “recognises the need for a national framework and would support a workable, simple system that delivers certainty, fair outcomes and value for money alongside statutory duties to provide for existing and future demand at the local level”.

But the government’s proposal to top up housing benefit “does not achieve this”.

The proposal creates “major risks” to existing and future supported housing, “significant inequalities” for service users and “additional complexities and resourcing issues” that will “constrain” value for money, the group said.

Placeshapers has also warned linking supported housing rents to Local Housing Allowance (LHA) would create “variable funding gaps”, with a particular “North v South divide”, and would lead to “discriminatory outcomes” for existing residents because of a “postcode lottery approach” to top-up funding.

It would also deter developers from building supported housing other than in high-value areas.

Placeshapers has called on the government to abandon linking supported housing rents with LHA and instead set up a supported housing allowance that would “level the geographical differences” and “better reflect the true costs of provision”.

There is a “strong case” for the government to pass legislation to protect local funding pots “given the trend for ringfenced budgets to disappear”, the group said.

Many councils “no longer have supported housing expertise”, Placeshapers said, and might “struggle to commission effectively”.