New Thinking in Supported Housing
Welcome to Michael Patterson’s supported housing blog. Here you’ll find free thinking on supported housing funding, policy, regulation and values, to mention but a few areas of interest.
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Blog Posts
SHROA: Progress Made: But the Job Isn’t Finished
After a long wait, the Government has published its response to the consultation on the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act, and it has clearly listened. The direction of travel is broadly positive. However, while there are real improvements, SHROA is not quite “there” yet.
What’s the Difference Between Intensive Housing Management & Maintenance & Care, Support or Supervision”?
Intensive Housing Management and Maintenance are “Support and Supervision” under much case law. Intensive Housing Management and maintenance are likely to be “more than minimal” in their own right, and there should be no requirement to provide additional CSS for housing benefit claims or for compliance with exempt accommodation requirements.
This Briefing includes a detailed list of case law relating to intensive housing management and maintenance, and also maps the case law examples to intensive housing management and maintenance activities.
Supported Housing People December 2025 Supported Housing Update
An update on the Supported Housing Regulatory Oversight Act (SHROA), supported housing licensing, the DWP’s potential definition of “support”, the possible abolition of housing benefit, the Exempt Accommodation Project (EAP) and its role in helping councils manage subsidy recovery for supported housing and temporary accommodation, and as a “community of good practice”, and finally case law to show that intensive housing management and maintenance are “support”.
What is “Care, Support or Supervision” (CSS) and can it be Funded Through Enhanced Housing Benefit?
The purpose of this blog post is to challenge the notion that “care, support or supervision” (CSS) in its entirety isn’t eligible to be funded by (enhanced) housing benefit. The background context is the current Supported Housing Regulatory Oversight Act (SHROA) Consultation
Help With Claiming Enhanced Housing Benefit
This blog post sets out how I can help local authority approved supported housing providers to claim enhanced housing benefit and also help local authorities with subsidy loss problems. It makes contextual reference to the DWP Guidance on Housing Benefit for Supported Housing Claims and the Supported Housing Regulatory Oversight Act.
September 2024
Claiming Enhanced Housing Benefit & the DWP Housing Benefit Guidance for Supported Housing Claims
This briefing is aimed at supported housing providers claiming enhanced housing benefit [both registered providers and non-registered providers] and local authority supported housing commissioning and Revenues and Benefits colleagues.
November 2023
The Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act
This Act has some shortcomings, however, it’s a very big step in the right direction towards ridding supported housing of the parasites that infest it in the guise of certain supported housing providers, RPs, developers and investors that are interested in financially abusing people with additional needs in return for shoddy properties and negligible or no support.
April 2023
The Exempt Accommodation Inquiry Report
There is a saying that “hard cases make bad law” and I believe, unfortunately, that this is what we’re seeing here. With some exceptions, notably on domestic violence and abuse services, this Report is a missed opportunity based on an inadequate grasp of the supported housing ecosystem that it wishes to reform.
October 2022
The Consultation on Rent Capping & Enhanced Housing Benefit
As you’re doubtless aware the Regulator for Social Housing is currently consulting on the introduction of a core rent increase of 3%, 5% or 7% for social housing. The consultation is here.
The reason for the consultation is the significant increase in the rate of inflation in circumstances where social housing core rents can currently be annually increased by CPI +1%. If CPI is around 10%-11% or more, then a core rent rise of this magnitude is unsupportable by the great majority of mainstream social housing tenants. Many would argue that any core rent rise is unsupportable by many social housing tenants.
September 2022
The Problems with Exempt Accommodation
Wea seeing an invasion of the supported housing ecosystem by people and organisations who know how to play the system for financial gain.
This influx of the uninvited has led to significant pressure on local authorities and enhanced Housing Benefit. Alleged supported housing providers, whether connected to dubiously motivated private capital or not, have popped up all over the place, usually in the form of a CIC, and demanded enhanced Housing Benefit for alleged supported housing services that no one asked them to provide.
April 2022
Problems Claiming Enhanced Housing Benefit?
Charities, voluntary organisations and registered providers (housing associations) that provide supported housing and/or tenancy sustainment services are entitled to Enhanced Housing Benefit to provide Intensive Housing Management. However, all things are not equal and some organisations are, in practice, more entitled than others.
October 2021
Enhanced Housing Benefit, the Exempt Accommodation Project and the Oversight of Supported Housing
Back in October 2020 I wrote a briefing on the National Statement of Expectations for Supported Housing in which I expressed concern that it would be used as an exercise in cost control. Unfortunately, those fears seem to be justified in many instances. Some local authorities are trying to insist on supported housing providers becoming registered providers to qualify for framework agreements and tenders in circumstances where, in England at least, this is a very difficult thing to do.
Other local authorities are restricting enhanced Housing Benefit payments to non-registered supported housing providers to artificial local maxima of less than they need and are entitled to. They do this to avoid the subsidy loss they incur when they pay enhanced Housing Benefit to non-registered supported housing providers. This is understandable in a way, but it further reinforces the three-tier system in which a tenant’s entitlement to enhanced Housing Benefit is dependent on the legal identity of their landlord, which is patently bonkers as well as discriminatory.
But here’s a solution.
August 2021
The Exempt Accommodation Project
Supported housing providers are increasingly being told they must register as registered providers in order to claim Enhanced Housing Benefit and/or to be included on local framework agreements. Here is a solution for supported housing providers, local authorities and registered providers alike.
June 2021
Why are some local authorities restricting enhanced Housing Benefit payments to charities & voluntary agency supported housing providers and/or forcing them to apply to become registered providers?
May 2021
Intensive Housing Management & Enhanced Housing Benefit
A list of routinely eligible tasks and functions
April 2021
The Supported Housing (Regulation) Bill
February 2021
The National Statement of Expectations for Supported Housing
October 2020
Using Commercial & Retail Space for Reconfigured Supported Housing in the “Post Covid” Era
August 2020
Working Together to Develop New Supported Housing
July 2020
Claiming Enhanced Housing Benefit for Intensive Housing Management
July 2020
The Oversight of Supported Housing
June 2020
Funding Supported Housing
June 2020
What is Supported Housing? (Part 2): Defining It
May 2020
Funding Intensive Housing Management
May 2020
What is Supported Housing? (Part 1): A Victim of its own Misdescription
Exempt Accommodation & Intensive Housing Management
From the Support Solutions archive
Managing the Covid 19 Pandemic for Landlords & Providers of Social & Supported Housing
April 2020
Hi Michael,
Great blog – can I please subscribe? The Subscribe button on the website won’t let me do it from my Outlook account.
Thanks
Jackie
Hi Jackie, many thanks.
Yes, I’ll make sure your email address goes on to the database.
Regards
Michael
In fact, all the hyperlinks sent me to a Microsoft Edge browser asking me to choose which email address to send it from, with no options listed. Obviously, I can find the links myself, but wondered if it’s something that can be fixed?
Hi Jackie, sorry that must be an MS Edge or browser configuration issue. Unfortunately nothing I can do from this side. Have tested and retested all links prior to publication. Regards, Michael