Mainstream housing for people with a learning disability.
We know that people with a learning disability want the same as the rest of us – ‘to live in the place we call home, with the people and things we love, in communities where we look out for each other, doing the things that matter to us’.
Councils are key to helping people with a learning disability find housing that supports them to live a good, ordinary life in the community, and are at the forefront of making this possible, despite the current housing shortage.
Doing so effectively not only improves the quality of life of people with a learning disability, but can also result in savings for hard-pressed adult social care budgets.
Partners in Care and Health (PCH) – a partnership between the LGA and the Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), which supports councils to improve how they deliver adult social care services – has published two reports to help councils with this work.
‘Best practice and insights report on improving housing choice for people with a learning disability’ provides evidence of council good practice and insights in relation to people with a learning disability having access to, and living in, ‘mainstream’ housing (see right).
‘Developing Shared Lives for people with a learning disability’ aims to support councils to enable more people with a learning disability to benefit from the ‘Shared Lives’ model of care and support.
See below and right for more information, and read the reports in full at www.local.gov.uk/publications.
Shared homes, shared lives
PCH worked with Shared Lives Plus, the national charity representing the Shared Lives sector, to develop guidance on good practice in developing and growing the Shared Lives model of care and support.
The model involves a carefully approved Shared Lives carer being matched with a person who needs support, who then lives with or regularly visits the carer.
The carers are self-employed, but are recruited, trained and monitored by Shared Lives schemes, which are registered with the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
In October 2023, the CQC rated 97 per cent of Shared Lives schemes in England as good or outstanding, compared with 83 per cent for the wider social care sector.
Real stories demonstrate the ways in which people such as Joshua and Elle (pictured) and Michael (see bit.ly/44NDiU0) live richer, fuller lives in Shared Lives schemes.
Shared Lives offers high-quality support while costing less than most other forms of adult social care.
A 2023 ADASS survey found that 87 per cent of directors of adult social care thought that ‘greater availability of Shared Lives would reduce or significantly reduce adult social care expenditure’.
The most recent research shows that Shared Lives can save between £12,000 and £26,000 per person per year for people with a learning disability (compared with supported living and residential care).
Despite the proven ability of the model to save money, the financial pressures on council budgets can make upfront investment difficult, as establishing or growing a new Shared Lives service involves overheads. These include staff costs, Shared Lives carer training, marketing and communications, and ongoing support for Shared Lives carers.
However, the report outlines the ways in which a strategy can create the ideal conditions to drive Shared Lives growth – see https://www.local.gov.uk/publications/developing-shared-lives-people-learning-disability
‘Ordinary’ housing options
PCH’s ‘Best practice and insights report on improving housing choice for people with a learning disability’ draws on discussions with people with a learning disability and their supporters, and 15 councils.
As part of producing the report, the Housing Learning and Improvement Network (a dynamic community of more than 15,000 housing, health and social care professionals) engaged with people with a learning disability and their family members – with the support of the charity Learning Disability England – to understand what people are seeking from an ‘ordinary’ home.
The report includes hints and tips, as well as case studies of how councils can help people with a learning disability access ‘mainstream’ housing – for example, by renting from a social housing landlord, a housing association or a council, renting from a private sector landlord, being a homeowner, or living in housing that has been arranged by a family member.
The report covers:
- the types of housing in which people with a learning disability live, including people who are eligible for adult social care and those who are not
- the barriers to people with a learning disability accessing and living in mainstream housing
- the practical action that councils can and are taking to address these barriers
- the case for change, setting out the benefits for people with a learning disability and for councils if more people lived in mainstream housing.
Councils are already doing lots – for example, Dorset Council has ‘flags’ on its register to indicate that an applicant has a learning disability and/or other additional needs (such as for an adapted property), enabling the council to be better informed when matching people with housing.
Councils are also collecting detailed information about the housing needs and associated care and support needs of people with a learning disability.
Warwickshire’s district and borough councils, for example, have developed a housing-needs referral form to supplement the main housing register application form, which can be used when a person has care or support needs (including a learning disability).
There is also the potential for councils to aggregate this data to provide evidence of housing need to inform local housing strategies.
Some councils, such as Cornwall, have developed local housing plans and strategies in relation to people with a learning disability that promote access to mainstream housing as an option alongside, for example, the use of supported housing and supported living.
Other councils have helped private landlords to recognise that people with a learning disability typically make good long-term tenants. Wirral Council has used its local private sector landlord forums to engage with private landlords in this way.
Producing accessible information and advice goes a long way. Warwickshire County Council (with its district and borough council partners) has produced an ‘easy read’ guide for people with a learning disability, while Wigan Council has a housing options guide specifically targeted at families and carers.
Engaging with local housing providers can also help. Birmingham City Council uses a local forum with social housing providers to encourage them to make a range of reasonable adjustments – such as installing appropriate soundproofing – so that more people with a learning disability can access general needs social housing.
Some councils fund low-level types of support to help residents manage a tenancy successfully. For example, Telford and Wrekin Council commissions a housing association to do this.
Digital technology can also help people with a learning disability to live in mainstream housing. Surrey County Council has worked with support providers and a technology company to enable people to move from supported housing into mainstream housing, where they receive paid-for support complemented by the extensive use of technology to assist them to live independently.
- LGA and ADASS are Partners in Care and Health (PCH), supporting councils to improve the way they deliver adult social care services. Information about PCH’s support offer in respect of people with a learning disability and autistic people is available at www.local.gov.uk/our-support/partners-care-and-health/autistic-learning-disabilities