Local authorities in England are to be granted new powers to better manage their local supported housing market and to crack down on rogue landlords, the Government has announced.
In a written ministerial statement, Eddie Hughes, the undersecretary for rough sleeping and housing, said the Government was committed to ensuring that supported housing is good quality and meets the needs of its residents.
In order to achieve this end, Mr Hughes said that the Government would bring forward a package of measures that would empower councils to manage supported housing better and protect vulnerable residents from rogue landlords.
The measures would also include minimum standards for the support provided to residents and changes to Housing Benefit regulations that would seek to define care, support and supervision to improve quality and value for money across all specified supported housing provision.
Alongside these proposed measures, Mr Hughes announced that the Government would provide £20m for a Supported Housing Improvement Programme. Funding for this three-year programme will be open to bids from all local authorities.
‘This package of proposed measures will tackle poor quality and poor value for money in supported housing and improve outcomes for individuals, while preserving good quality provision run by responsible providers,’ he said.
