Habinteg publishes latest consultation responses | Policy blog

Last month (February 2017) Habinteg responded to both the DWP/DCLG joint consultation on Funding for Supported Housing and the DWP Disability Green Paper.

Funding for Supported Housing consultation – Summary of Habinteg’s key points

The joint DCLG/DWP consultation which seeks views on the design of the Government’s new housing costs funding model for supported housing.

Our answers focused on the proposed devolved top-up funding to local authorities in England and the impacts on older people with support needs, people with learning disabilities and people with physical or sensory disabilities.

In summary, our response calls for:

• A long-term, explicit and ring-fenced commitment to any future funding model to ensure investor confidence. With 30 year funding model required for development of new supported housing, regaining the confidence of developing service providers will be vital.
• A national commissioning framework for funding which will support local authorities, provide value for money, enable strong transition to the new system and mitigate against the effects of a postcode lottery in supported housing provision.
• A standardised set of definitions of supported and sheltered housing nationally to ensure clarity and effective joined up decision making locally

Disability Green Paper – Summary of Habinteg’s key points

Our submission highlights the relationship between accessible housing and access to employment for disabled people.

Accessible housing and inclusive environments are key factors in enabling more disabled people to participate in employment opportunities, therefore we urge local and national government to consider cross-departmental approaches which include an understanding of the wide-ranging impacts of accessibility on the lives of people who are disabled or have a long-term health condition.

Both responses can be found here: https://www.habinteg.org.uk/responses