Residualisation in supported housing: an organisational case study

Abstract

Supported housing is a particular complex sub-section of the housing sector, and generally refers to social or state housing provided in conjunction with additional support to help people develop the skills required for independent living. This paper examines the current changes to the supported housing sector partly as a result of austerity and partly as a result of politically initiated structural and funding changes. This paper aims to examine the outcome of the UK government’s reviews and a case study comprising first-hand accounts from stakeholders across a large supported housing provider, including all tiers of management and operations. The paper concludes that there are clear broad trends that can be identified across the sector, including state withdrawal, reduced and restructured funding models that constrain providers and, crucially, a process of residualisation that reduces state involvement in the sector to only individual support for the most vulnerable and ‘at risk’ clients. The authors express concern that these changes are detrimental and may actually leave already vulnerable social in an even more vulnerable situation.