Floating support: the new panacea

1
Floating support the new panacea?

• Denise Gillie
• Housing networks

2
History

• Developed in the 1990s as intensive housing
  management funded by the Housing Corporation
• An alternative to special needs housing
• Provided to tenants with short term support needs
  living in general needs housing
• Used to provide for care leavers, people with
  mental health substance misuse problems and
  others

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What is it?

• Support transferable between properties, when no
  longer required the service floats off
• Service to help residents access the benefits and
  services they need
• Provided to residents moving on from specialist
  accommodation or as an alternative

4
Some issues

• Can floating support meet the needs of people who
  have increasing or long term needs for support?
• What should staffing ratios be for different
  client groups and needs?
• What kind of contractual relationship between the
  commissioner provider will deliver innovative,
  flexible responsive services?

5
Service users

• JRF research in 1998 with young people (under
  25), people with severe or enduring mental health
  problems, physical impairment found the
  following
• Not appropriate for everyone especially the most
  vulnerable those needing intensive support
• Some service users felt isolated in the
  community and from others with similar needs

6
Drivers for floating support

• To provide a better distribution of available SP
  funding
• To provide equity across tenure
• To get better value for money reducing the
  number of service providers only those who need
  the service receive it improved procurement
  contracting

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Example County Durham (1)

• Review of older peoples services
• 24 properties rented from LAs RSLs
• 76 owner occupied privately rented, only 1 of
  these receiving SP services
• Need to remodel to provide services across tenure
  move from accommodation based to floating support
• Separate support services from landlord function

8
Example County Durham (2)

• Sheltered housing service specification
• 1 dispersed alarm per household
• 24/7 call answering and mobile response service
• Not included gas or fire detection, intruder
  alarms or bogus callers
• Two levels of support visits
• Low level quarterly visit, assistance as
  required
• High level short term only, weekly visit to
  meet needs linked to intermediate care, hospital
  discharge crisis type support

9
Some issues

• RSLs not able to provide services across large
  geographical areas, so not able to tender for the
  contract
• Successful bidders (District Councils) now
  operating in RSL properties
• RSL Landlord tenant relationship
• Access to schemes
• Health and safety
• Scheme based staff no longer funded to provide
  support

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Example Casa Support (1)

• Provision of tenancy support into general needs
  housing for other group members
• Short term for residents having difficulty
  managing or maintaining their tenancies
• Greater levels of vulnerability complexity than
  general needs housing management can support
  need specialist knowledge expertise
• Avoids eviction, abandonment arrears

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Example Casa Support (2)

• 2004/05 117 cases accepted by the service only
  one eviction
• Reduced rent loss voids management
• However, difficulties in sustaining SP contracts
  because properties are spread across south London
  and the south east

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Substance misuse services

• Floating support is included in guidance from
  DCLG Home Office
• Prevent tenancy breakdown
• Improve mental physical health
• Prevent crime anti social behaviour
• Reduce substance misuse or help maintain
  abstinence
• Access to services treatment
• Education, employment social issues

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Examples

• Royal Borough of Kensington Chelsea -service
  for people with multiple complex needs
  forensic issues (substance misuse, mental health,
  challenging behaviour), intensive floating
  support social private tenancies
• London Borough of Newham intensive floating
  support for probation clients with substance
  misuse issues, living in private rented housing

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Challenges

• Limited understanding of housing models by NTA,
  DATs some health staff
• Mainstream housing providers often fearful of
  re-housing substance mis-users
• Cross authority issues
• Links not always there between strategies,
  targets, capital revenue funding
• Limited joint funding of services

15
Contact details
Housing Telecare Networks Care Services
Improvement Partnership Department of
Health Wellington House 135-155 Waterloo
Road London SE1 8UG e-mail telecare_at_csip.org.uk
Website www.csip.org.uk/telecare