Have your say on the city's first supported housing plan from 9 November

Brighton & Hove City Council^1,2,3 has published a draft of its first supported housing strategy, a plan for the next 10 years, and wants people’s views on it. The consultation opens on Monday 9 November and closes on Monday 21 December.

Supported housing is a home that comes with care, support or supervision. In the city that covers sheltered housing and extra care for older people, short-stay housing for people leaving homelessness or in recovery, and long-term homes for adults with learning disabilities or mental health needs. The council counts around 4,430 places: about 2,670 for older people, around 1,320 in transitional housing and 440 in long-term supported housing for working-age adults.

Every council in England now has to write one of these under the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023, and Brighton & Hove must publish its strategy by 31 March 2027.

What the draft says

A needs assessment carried out across Sussex found the city leans on residential care more than comparable councils. Of the people with mental health needs supported by adult social care, 42% live in residential care, against a peer average of 34%.

The draft says the city needs at least 200 more supported living places for working-age adults by 2032, and at least 140 more extra care and sheltered places for older people. The council calls these figures interim and will confirm them in the final strategy.

For short-stay housing, the problem is the way out. Around 112 people have stayed longer than intended and could move on if suitable housing were available, so places don’t free up and around 620 people are waiting. The draft proposes planning each move-on from the start of a placement. It also suggests asking housing associations to set aside a share of their ordinary lets for people ready to move, and building a supported route into private renting.

Domestic abuse safe accommodation is the exception. The city has about half the refuge places recommended for its population, and the draft says it needs around 40 more safe places by 2032.

The council also wants to review personal safety in shared housing and prepare for a national licensing scheme for “exempt” supported housing, which it expects won’t be in force until late 2027 at the earliest.

Money is the catch, and the draft says so: “Demand for supported housing is rising, and funding is constrained.”

How to have your say

From 9 November, fill in the survey on the council’s Your Voice website, or download it and complete it by hand. The draft, a short summary, an Easy Read version and a summary of the needs assessment will be there too. For paper copies, contact the council’s Supported Housing Regulatory Oversight Team or write to SHROA at the Housing Centre on the Fairway Trading Estate, BN2 4QL.

The council says it offers outreach sessions in supported housing and advocacy support for people who need it. Afterwards it will publish a report of what it heard and what changed as a result.