Supported housing

Supported housing accommodation

Supported housing accommodation, which may be either self contained or shared, is designed to meet the needs of particular user groups requiring intensive housing management and may also include additional communal facilities.

Supported Housing is for tenants who require extra housing support and/or an element of care in addition to a home. The extra housing management support and care provided by this type of housing is intended to help individuals lead as independent a life as possible. The primary aim of each scheme is intended to provide appropriate housing or, where the accommodation is temporary, to ensure that residents are enabled to ‘move on’ to independent accommodation as appropriate.

Such housing provision can be similar to the various types of accommodation described above for General Needs, Wheelchair and Elderly (Category 1 and Category 2) units. Special space and facility requirements may be needed by some tenants and tenant groups, including ‘shared’ multi-wheelchair user environments. Supported housing may be provided in the following arrangements:

• Self-contained units
• Self-contained units with common room and/or associated communal facilities
• Shared housing units or
• Shared housing units with common room and/or associated communal facilities

The term 'shared housing' is used to describe accommodation for two or more persons with shared facilities, eg bathroom, kitchen, communal living room or dining room. Shared housing can include cluster dwellings, group homes or hostels. Some will provide the services of a warden who may be resident in the scheme.

It is recognised that tenants may have one or more impairment such as; visual, hearing, cognitive or learning and as a result, consideration needs to be given to the provision of additional specific and supplementary design features to the base standards. Where this occurs the association should seek advice and guidance from organisations that specialize in the particular impairment and should discuss and agree the extra provision with DPG. Some general guidance in relation to specific Supported Housing design standards is included at Annex ‘C’.

In supported housing, furniture should be provided as necessitated by the needs of the people being housed. A supplementary on-cost is available for basic provision.

The TCI Area/Cost Bands applicable to self-contained and shared Supported Housing accommodation are noted in Table 6: Supported Housing - TCI Area/Cost Bands Applicable