Tag: intensive housing management

“Intensive Housing Management and Maintenance are Support, Supervision and Sufficient”

New thinking in supported housing

“Intensive Housing Management and Maintenance are Support, Supervision and Sufficient”.

This note sets out the key case law underpinning a practical and defensible position for supported housing providers: that “Intensive housing management and maintenance are support, supervision and sufficient.” Remember where you heard that first!

This is in circumstances where supported housing providers are often told by DWP and revenues and benefits colleagues that “care, support or supervision are not HB-eligible”, and that Intensive housing management and maintenance are not sufficient on their own. This isn’t true. 

The End of the Property-Led Exempt Accommodation Contrivance?

I need to bring to your attention a very recent Upper Tribunal Judgment.

Some of you may recall a BBC Panorama programme from a few years ago (https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-62497015), which focused on the charity My Space Housing Solutions.  

I have, for a long time, written and spoken about property-led entryism into the supported housing ecosystem by property developers, portfolio owners, lettings agents, etc., who see big profits from housing benefit, but have no emotional commitment to supported housing. This could be the end of that business model, and the sooner the better.

What’s the Difference between Intensive Housing Management and Maintenance, and “Care, Support or Supervision”? 

Two staff members discuss a benefits application form in a busy office setting.

Intensive Housing Management and Maintenance are “Support and Supervision”.  Intensive Housing Management and maintenance are likely to be “more than minimal”, and there should be no requirement to provide additional CSS for the purposes of housing benefit or exempt accommodation compliance.

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”.

Help With Claiming Enhanced Housing Benefit

Supported housing providers will have noticed recently that enhanced housing benefit claims are subject to more intense scrutiny than has historically been the case. 

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.

The Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023

The Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) 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.

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.