By John Glenton, Riverside’s Chief Care and Support Officer

We are dedicated to helping people affected by homelessness. Dedicated long-term funding is urgently needed for supported housing to reduce homelessness.

This World Homeless Day, I find myself reflecting on conversations held at Labour Conference last week about how we reduce the record levels of homelessness we’re seeing in England.

But also, about the importance of the people who manage and run our supported housing services and the difference that they make to people affected by homelessness.

This takes me to one of our customers about the difference it made to her life.

This particular customer is in her early 20s and having been orphaned at a young age she had no parental figure and had to work hard to overcome loss and adversity.

She told us: “Placing your trust in someone is the hardest thing when your trust has been broken.

“But at Claremont House I spent enough time with Paul for a bond to be created there where I knew I could trust him.

“I’ve never had that before growing up in any relationship. I’ve never had that sort of trust and support before.

“In supported housing you have someone knocking on your door. You have someone actively thinking about you. You know that you’re safe.”

If we are to be successful in reducing homelessness, then supported housing has a crucial role to play.

At the moment there are currently more than 130,000 homeless households, which include almost 170,000 homeless children, living in temporary accommodation (TA).

Councils in England have now spent more than £10bn on TA over the past five years.

At Labour Conference I attended a roundtable hosted by the Centre for Homelessness Impact in which councillors highlighted the growing use of TA, and the immense and unsustainable costs local authorities are facing.

We also talked about the immense toll that living in TA has on families who are often forced to share beds, and live in one single room without kitchen facilities, leaving families deprived of sleep and the ability to make a warm, healthy meal.

I think many of us around that table believed that it doesn’t have to be this way.

At a time when there are record numbers of children living in TA it is easy to forget that in very recent history supported housing helped to play an effective role in dramatically reducing homelessness.

Supported housing services are a lifeline to many people. However, the reality is that many are closing and many more are having to consider their future.

Last year, one in three supported housing providers had to close schemes because of funding pressures, and 60% say they will be forced to close schemes in the future.

In April of this year, I was part of a National Housing Federation delegation, which went to 10 Downing Street to hand a letter to the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer to warn of the financial crisis facing supported housing.

We will continue to urge the government to recognise the value of supported housing and to put much needed ring-fenced funding in place.

In 2023 we commissioned a report in partnership with the National Housing Federation to quantify the impact that supported housing makes on those in most need.

The report entitled “Ultimately other services finish at 5pm” found that without the provision of supported housing there would be:

• An increase in core homelessness of around 41,000 people, with a further 30,000 people at significant risk of future homelessness (the cost to the public purse of long-term homelessness has been estimated at over £40,000 per person per year).
• A need for 14,000 additional inpatient psychiatric places (each costing around £170,000 per year).
• Increased demand, from the transitional and short-term sector alone, for a further 2,500 places in residential care, many for people with complex needs (each costing in the region of £45-£50,000 per annum).
• A need for a further 2,000 prison places (each costing an average of £32,700 per annum), due to licences or court orders being revoked.

We still await the government’s long-term homelessness strategy under the direction of the new Homelessness Alison McGovern MP, but it is vital that long-term ring-fenced funding for supported housing services in England is an essential pillar in the plan.

In conversation earlier this year our supported housing customer went on to say: “The realness, of the connection you have with the people that work here is incredible. It’s not just a job. I’m not just tenant. I have a friend, and this is somewhere I actually belong.

“My support worker has made an incredible difference to my life. He has been the difference.”

We know that our supported housing services and our remarkable support workers transform customers’ lives and enable them to live more independently and happier, and more productive lives.

To help people affected by homelessness and our colleagues and counterparts across the sector, long-term funding is crucial for us to be able to keep our doors open, our buildings warm and comfortable, and enable our incredible support teams to continue to improve the lives of tens of thousands of people every year so that people affected by homelessness can thrive.