Supported Housing Task and Finish Group Main Report

appendix (ii) Summary of expert contributions

Emmaus | Working Communities

A secular international movement working to tackle poverty and social exclusion with over 400 communities and groups in over 40 countries. Emmaus addresses the most pressing problems in local contexts and in the UK is predominantly a ‘working community’ model. To highlight:

• For a small number of people, it can provide a safe, supportive environment, usually for a short period and to assist some ‘time out’ or transition. People can find a sense of purpose in the social enterprise as well as skills development.
• Emmaus communities provide companionship, community and solidarity through living as a community, friendship, and work with a social purpose where excess profit is routed into the wider community. Communities are coproduced and co-delivered.
• The main funding streams supporting Emmaus communities are enterprise income and housing benefit. Communities can also fundraise for big capital projects. All communities build cross-subsidy financial models to allow beds to be available for people who do not qualify for Housing Benefit, e.g. people with no recourse to public funds.

Simon Community Scotland | Managed Alcohol Programme

The service was introduced to Scotland in 2021 and provides a 10-bed trauma-informed service to support men who are homeless and alcohol dependent and who do not wish to stop drinking. This harm reduction approach is evidence-based and gives people an opportunity to:

• Live in a safe place that they call home.
• Control their alcohol intake through an agreed alcohol plan with on-site support.
• Engage with a range of primary care services that improves health and wellbeing
• Reconnect with family and friends and participate in a range of activities including music tuition and digital inclusion.

Simon Community Scotland works in collaboration with the Scottish Government, University of Stirling, NHS and third sector to improve people’s quality of life. The service has demonstrated a reduction in A&E admissions, alcohol consumption, street drinking, antisocial behaviour, alcohol withdrawals and seizures - and in feelings of stigma, isolation and marginalisation.

Recovery Housing | Sanctuary Housing Association

Sanctuary Housing Association are leading conversations on how to maximise the full potential of RSLs to support people to sustain mainstream housing. This expert contribution helped the task and finish group to consider the role of housing associations to support people in their own tenancies who might otherwise lean toward a shared or supported housing option. Or to actively assist transitions through community or residential care for people in recovery from addiction while ensuring mainstream housing is sustained.

The concept of Recovery Housing is primarily preventative, about supporting people to maintain mainstream tenancies while accessing different types of support, specialist support, residential rehab, and community-based support. The contribution highlighted the following key points:

• The importance of integrated funding across housing, health, and social work to enable housing outcomes that are supported for people who want that.
• The need to ensure that there are no adverse implications when accessing specialist support and especially that a person’s tenancy is not at risk by using the dual housing support fund to cover housing costs when residential rehabilitation is accessed.
• Using a targeted approach to engage with people in tenancies at risk of failure and using the knowledge within housing to encourage engagement with community supports.
• The role of the landlord should be more evident when enabling transitions through community or residential care.