Supported housing is accommodation that is provided alongside support, supervision or care to help people with specific needs to live as independently as possible in the community. This includes, for example, older people, people with a learning disability, people with a physical disability, people at risk of or who have experienced homelessness, or people recovering from drug or alcohol dependence. Supported housing can be short term or long-term, depending on a person’s needs.
The National Audit Office has found in a recent investigation that gaps in data and regulation are – in some areas – allowing increasing numbers of landlords to profit by providing costly, sub-standard housing with little or no support, supervision or care.
Commenting on the NAO’s findings PAC Chair Dame Meg Hillier MP said: “Vulnerable people deserve to live in housing that meets their needs. But gaps in regulation mean a concerning number live in sub-standard accommodation, at great expense to the taxpayer. Government must now capitalise on the work of its Supported Housing Programme Board and provide local authorities with the support they need, starting with meaningful data on the scale of the problem.”
The Public Accounts Committee has an ongoing interest in housing related issues, including supported housing. Most recently the Committee’s Report into Affordable Homes (published in December 2022) found that the Department Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) will struggle to meet its target for supported homes, and that the Department urgently needs to understand and quantify the savings that building more supported homes can make to local and central government spend on adult social care. The Committee also concluded that Department needs to work harder with the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to overcome the barriers to delivery, particularly in London.
In this inquiry, based on the NAO’s investigation, the Committee will look at issues including:
- responsibilities for supported housing;
- central and local oversight on supported housing;
- central and local government spending on supported housing;
- quality of the data available on supported housing;
- the regulation of supported housing; and
- the government’s current and proposed actions to improve supported housing.
The Committee will question senior officials at the departments for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and Work & Pensions (W&P) on these issues.
If you have evidence to inform their questioning please submit it here by 23:59 on Thursday 8 June 2023.
Please look at the requirements for written evidence submissions and note that the Committee cannot accept material as evidence that is published elsewhere.