𝟭𝟱𝟯 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗹𝘀. £𝟮𝟴 𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗼𝗻. 𝟭 𝗢𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟯𝟬. Three numbers most landlords pitching supported living have never connected. The miss is costing them schemes that should have been signed.    153 councils in England now publish a Local Supported Housing Strategy (LSHS) that states, in writing, what they will and will not commission. £28 million is sitting in the Supported Housing Improvement Programme, the Homes England capacity fund directed by councils, until 31 March 2026. The new Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) C minimum standard for privately rented homes lands on 1 October 2030, the single compliance date confirmed in the government's 2025 PRS energy efficiency response.    If a pitch ignores any of these three, it dies before the building is ever evaluated.    Supported housing in England runs at an average void rate of around 5%, against 1 to 2% for general needs housing. That figure is published in the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) guidance on Local Supported Housing Strategies. The gap is not random. It is a commissioning failure with a paper trail.    Each LSHS sets out, in plain English, which client groups the council will commission for, which existing schemes are oversubscribed, and where voids are sitting unfilled. This is the document that decides which schemes get funded. It is freely downloadable. It is the single biggest blind spot in landlord pitches I see.    The Commissioner Angle    Commissioners are working from a published strategy. They have agreed it with their housing colleagues, their NHS Integrated Care Board (ICB) partners, and in many cases their cabinet. When a landlord arrives with a 12-bed scheme that doesn't appear anywhere in that strategy, the commissioner is not being awkward by saying no. They are being consistent with a public document.    The commissioner already knows where the gaps are. They will tell you, if you ask. Most landlord pitches don't ask. They present.    The Provider and Finance Angle    For the Operator and Care Provider (OACP) side, the LSHS matters for a different reason. The Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023 is moving toward a licensing regime. The government's consultation response confirmed that where a care service is rated Inadequate by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) at the point of licence application, the council can reject the licence. The provider then loses the scheme entirely.    This is not theoretical. Providers are now being asked to evidence CQC standing, registered manager continuity, and alignment with the council's commissioning intentions before the housing question is even on the table.    The Property Angle    The property still matters. It matters last. The 42m² self-contained minimum for new adult supported living units is now baseline. Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) ratings need to be on a credible path to C by 1 October 2030, the single compliance date confirmed in the government's 2025 PRS energy efficiency response. Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMO) licensing applies to any scheme using shared facilities.    These are the entry tickets. They get you to the table. They do not win the contract. The contract is won upstream.    The System Cost Angle    The cost of getting this wrong is borne by the landlord, but it shows up across the system. An empty supported living unit produces no housing benefit return, while it costs the local NHS in delayed transfers of care, costs the council in residential placements that were not the right setting, and costs the provider in fixed staffing on undersubscribed schemes.    Homes England extended the Supported Housing Improvement Programme by £8 million in May 2025, taking the total to £28 million and extending it to 31 March 2026. That funding exists because government has accepted the system is not working at scale. It flows through councils. Councils direct it through their strategy.    What a Real Response Looks Like    Three things, in this order. First, download your target council's Local Supported Housing Strategy and read the commissioning intentions section. Second, request a 30 minute strategic conversation with the commissioner before the building is presented. Third, align your scheme proposal to a named gap in the published strategy, with a named provider whose CQC standing supports the license test.    This is not a six month process. The councils that have published their strategies have already done the hard work of telling you what they need.    For commissioners and Registered Providers reading this: how detailed is your council's strategy in practice? And for landlords: have you read your target council's strategy before you pitched?    Want the LSHS Decoder? It is the 1-page filter I use to turn a 60 page council strategy into a named gap, a named provider mismatch, and a named contact for the strategic conversation. 30 minutes from download to pitch-ready.    Comment DECODE and my team will send it across.    #SupportedHousing #SupportedLiving #AdultSocialCare #HousingAssociations #CarePropertyHub      Resources  Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, Local Supported Housing Strategies guidance, 2024: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-supported-housing-strategies/local-supported-housing-strategies  UK Government, Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/26  UK Government, Supported Housing Regulation Consultation, government response, 2024: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/supported-housing-regulation-consultation/outcome/supported-housing-regulation-consultation-government-response  UK Government, Supported Housing Improvement Programme prospectus: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supported-housing-improvement-programme-prospectus/supported-housing-improvement-programme-prospectus  UK Government, Adult social care priorities for local authorities 2026 to 2027: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/adult-social-care-priorities-for-local-authorities/adult-social-care-priorities-for-local-authorities-2026-to-2027  Homes England, Annual Report and Accounts 2024 to 2025: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/homes-england-annual-report-and-accounts-2024-and-2025/homes-england-annual-report-2024-to-2025-chairs-foreword-and-performance-report-accessible-version  Association of Directors of Adult Social Services (ADASS), Spring Survey 2025: https://www.adass.org.uk/documents/adass-spring-survey-2025/  ADASS, Supported Housing: the missing link in social care reform: https://www.adass.org.uk/supported-housing-the-missing-link-in-social-care-reform/  Local Government Association, Specialised Supported Housing guidance for local government and NHS commissioners: https://www.local.gov.uk/publications/specialised-supported-housing-guidance-local-government-and-nhs-commissioners  UK Government, Supported Housing National Statement of Expectations: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/supported-housing-national-statement-of-expectations/supported-housing-national-statement-of-expectations  UK Government, Improving the energy performance of privately rented homes, government response, 2025: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/improving-the-energy-performance-of-privately-rented-homes-2025-update/outcome/improving-the-energy-performance-of-privately-rented-homes-government-response-html 

Posted by Nisha Patel at 2026-04-29 13:33:28 UTC