Supported Housing Schemes

Supported housing is a housing scheme where support for day to day living is provided. Supported housing may be provided in a shared house or in a number of flats which may or may not be in the same building.
You can get support with the following:

• Personal care
• Housework
• Paying bills and
• Going out in the community

There are different kinds of supported housing:

• You can have your flat with a bedroom., kitchen, sitting room which is part of a group of flats. You may also have a shared living area, where you can meet with the other people you live with.
• You can live in a shared building and have your won bedroom but you share the kitchen, bathroom and living room.
• There may be separate rooms or a flat for staff to work in and sleep in if the Supported housig provides a staff sleep-in services over night.

Supported housing scheme will provide different levels of support which range from low to very high levels of support.

In low level supported housing schemes, the staff are not usually based in the building but will visit at agreed times to offer you support.  In medium and high level supported housing scheme the staff are usually based in the building that you live in.  In high level supported housing schemes staff are available seven days per week, 24 hours a day.

There are several supported housing schemes in Islington, and more are being planned. Some of these are for people with very high needs. We can also sometimes find supported accommodation scheme in other boroughs.

Islington Learning Disability Partnership can work with you to find a supported housing scheme with the right amount of support for you.

Living with other people – do you want to live with other people? If you live in supported housing you could share some of your home, such as the kitchen, bathroom and living room with other people or you could share a building. In most schemes there will usually be other people around.
When you live in Supported housing staff will help you to do most of the things that you need help with. The help you get will depend on your assessment.  It might include:

• Helping you find things to do during the day that you want to do
• Shopping and cooking
• Doing your laundry and cleaning your room or flat
• Looking after your personal care needs

Tenancy - if you decide to live in a supported housing scheme, you will have to sign a tenancy agreement, and pay rent and a service charge.  In most cases your Housing Benefit will cover this.

Housing Benefit – Housing benefit is changing; you must get up to date information at the time of applying on what housing benefit you may be entitled to.