Housing – Supported Queue

Why might it be of interest?

If you have an able young person – maybe a young person on the autistic spectrum or with mild LD, for example – it is not all that likely that they will move into Supported Living when they are ready to leave home.  The Supported Living options locally, be that shared houses or individual flats, are providing homes for young people with more significant ASD or LD and higher care needs.  There’s no hard and fast rule here and it may sometimes be appropriate for a more able young person to live in a Supported Living arrangement with more severely disabled young people.

But that is probably not quite what they want from their independent home.  There are different ways to go about acquiring their own home and one way, which we are discussing here, is to apply for a flat via the Supported Queue of the local housing register.

This is how it works locally and these are notes from a discussion I had recently with a transitions lead in adult social care in LB Richmond.

The housing register is not one long queue of individuals and families waiting for social housing.  There may be one or more queues for more specific needs.  In LB Richmond there is a queue called the Supported Queue which is for more vulnerable people including people with learning disabilities (LD) and while it’s not specifically mentioned it does generally include people with ASD.

Adult social care operates broadly across 3 areas:  mental health; learning disability; and locality teams.  ASD is not specifically mentioned but where a young person has ASD and is eligible for adult social care support one or other team will pick them up.

Housing register:  the young person has to apply to the housing register and that means completing the same application as everyone else.  There is an additional application for the Supported Queue.  Both applications have to be submitted together.

As such it works best if the young person makes contact with Karl Burgess or their social worker ahead of starting their application as Karl or social care will likely complete the applications with them.  When a young person has ASD it is likely to be the LD social care team or Preparing for Adulthood team who will support.

Evidence:  there is, of course, evidence to provide to support the application.  This is the same for everyone applying to the housing register and includes proof of ID, income and your current address.  A young person must be a resident of LB Richmond.  Additionally, the young person will also be including a copy of their most recent social care review.

What next:  a specific housing officer gatekeeps these applications.  In practice they are helpful and efficient and generally don’t question the recommendation from adult social care.  What they will do is check that the application has all the information it needs and will ask for anything missing.

Once the application is complete with all the necessary parts provided and it has been agreed the young person will be placed on the Supported Queue.

The application will be passed to housing allocations.  Karl or the social worker will ask to be kept in the loop so they are ready to offer support when a flat is offered.  The housing allocation team are very flexible and if a suitable flat becomes available it will be offered to the Supported Queue.

In practice the housing team work closely with Karl and social care and will consult on potential options to ensure that they are offering suitable accommodation.  Karl and social care will be looking out for things that might raise alarm bells for a vulnerable person.  For example, if the flat is in a block known for anti-social behaviour – this wouldn’t be suitable for an already vulnerable person.  When a young person is on the Supported Queue social care can add details that might be relevant to flat allocation.  For example, if a young person has been harassed in the past there may be additional considerations on location or type of flat.

The housing application does allow a young person to express preferences for areas they would like to live in.  But we must be realistic about this!  While there are flats in some very nice blocks and areas many more will be outside of the nicest of our local area – but not in terrible places.

Fast Track:  the Supported Queue is effectively a fast track queue.  What this means is that a young person should be ready to move when they apply to the housing register.  Not that they will be allocated a flat immediately but it could well come about within a few months.  If a young person is still considering whether they are ready to move it would be better not to apply to the housing register until they are more certain.

A young person doesn’t have to take the first flat they are offered but they should have a good reason for not taking it.  However, if they are ready to move and Karl and/or their social worker has been kept in the loop what they are offered should be appropriate.

Sharing:  the housing register and Supported Queue are not set up to support young people sharing a flat.  The flats offered will most likely be studios or one bed flats anyway but even when a 2 bed flat is available sharing can come with unforeseen complications.

If young people want to share then they really need to look at privately renting.  This can be problematic as the local housing allowance rates may not cover the entire rent and the young people would have to be able to afford to top their rent up from their own income or benefits.

What the housing register can sometimes manage is to ‘cluster’ young people – ie they may house a few young people in their own flats in the same block of flats.

What do you get:  you get an empty flat!  The flat you are offered doesn’t come with flooring, furniture or white goods and it may need redecorating.   This is down to you.  There are some grants available to help you furnish your flat but we are looking at more basic models rather than upmarket shops and goods.  You will need to work out what you need; research where you can get it; and the cost before making a grant application.