Care leavers and housing: what can be done?

Stephen Hulme, Development Manager at young people's charity Break, highlights the housing challenges facing young care leavers and summarises their Commonweal-supported feasibility study, which explores how a tenancy switch model could help this group secure stable, long-term housing.

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 Social housing demand and the impact on care leavers

A significant contributing factor to the cliff edge young people experience when leaving care is access to safe, comfortable, and aspirational housing. They are less likely to be able to live with family or have someone act as a guarantor for private rentals. This, combined with the impact of their trauma, can make securing housing a challenge. National data shows that nearly one in 10 young people leaving care become homeless in the two years after they turn 18.  

For many care leavers, social housing presents the most realistic opportunity to have a home of their own. However, a growing disparity between supply and demand for social housing makes it difficult for local authorities to offer high quality housing quickly for care leavers. In many cases, waits of several years on the social housing register are likely while in temporary or supported accommodation. The only way to guarantee priority access to social housing is to present to the council as homeless, but a lengthy period in temporary accommodation is still expected. We would not accept this for our own children, yet it is becoming a norm for those who have been in care.

Young people tell us this leaves them feeling insecure and not in control of their future. Without access to stable housing, it is difficult to focus on other areas of life and aspirations.

Staying Close Staying Connected – A different way to support young people as they leave care

In 2018, Break received funding from the DfE Innovation Fund to pilot a new model of supporting young people as they leave care. Break's Staying Close Staying Connected (SCSC) initiative was first advocated by Martin Nairey in his government review into children's residential care (Residential Care in England, July 2016). Staying Close was conceived to help young people in care transition into adulthood, reducing the impact of the cliff edge of care they face. It provides supported accommodation in shared and single occupancy homes within the community. Break support workers offer personalised, trauma-informed support aimed at promoting stability, safety, support networks and independent living skills.

SCSC is rooted in understanding the impact of a young person's trauma on their experience in the world. Safe and trusted relationships, alongside a 'Housing First' approach and therapeutic support, are fundamental to healing and prospering, offering a platform to develop readiness for greater independence in adult life.

However, the stretched social housing system means that for many who have developed the skills and confidence to move into more independent settings, there is nowhere to go. Not only does this cause frustration for them, but it also creates a bottleneck in the Staying Close service, limiting the number of young people Break can work with.

We need to find another way, and we had an idea: utilise social investment to purchase one bedroom properties. Young people would receive Staying Close support whilst in these homes until they were ready for more independence, at which point the tenancy would 'switch' into their name, and we would gradually move out while they stayed. We had achieved this once via a leasing arrangement with a housing association, but the scale of this approach was limited.

Break applied to Commonweal's Call for New Ideas programme to explore whether this idea was viable. The resulting feasibility study – undertaken in partnership between Break and Eastside People and funded by Commonweal Housing – set out to test this.

About the feasibility study

The funding bought us capacity and expertise we didn't have; Break appointed Eastside People, a consultancy organisation supporting charities in the UK. Through interviews with key local stakeholders and expert input, the study examined several core components:

• Legal and operational frameworks, including how tenancy ‘flips’ could be achieved to give young people control of their home while safeguarding their rights.

• Financial modelling for different ownership and management scenarios, including Break acting as landlord versus partnering with registered housing providers (RPs).

• Partnership structures, particularly with housing associations and RPs, to determine sustainable long-term models that balance affordability, risk, and support.

• Support design and transition planning, ensuring that young people can move to independence at their own pace, supported by Break’s lifelong offer.

The study also looked at the viability of claiming Enhanced Housing Benefit during transitional phases and how this income might help underpin a sustainable model. 

Key insights and learnings

Through the report, we established that the 'tenancy switch' model is viable, as it responds to the housing challenges young people face and can achieve the intended positive outcomes. We established that by partnering with a registered provider the approach is feasible from a legal and operational perspective.

The most affordable way to deliver the project – while still offering a tenancy switch that represents a genuine move toward greater independence – is to partner with a registered provider. In this arrangement, Break would have a lease agreement with the RP, with the RP acting as the landlord for the young person.  

The greatest challenge to implementing this model is making it financially viable while protecting the project's core tenets. To achieve the intended outcomes, a conveyor belt of properties is needed, so that as one property is handed to a young person, another property comes on board.

Also crucial to the project's outcomes is long-term access to or ownership of the properties; otherwise, there is a risk of creating another cliff edge.

Commonweal’s property investment model requires a return on investment to make a project financially viable, typically expected after a housing pilot runs for several years. However, under the tenancy switch model, a young person is expected to purchase the property to remain in it.

Therefore, more long-term financial models were preferable, and our modelling demonstrated that it could be made sustainable with significant long-term returns projected, whilst achieving project outcomes. The model is viable, however, it runs at an operational deficit day to day and therefore requires significant investment from the charity, and ties charity finances into property.

Ultimately, the need for significant investment of reserves and our current financial strategy meant the model wasn't deemed appropriate for Break right now. But for charities with available reserves, the feasibility study outlines a viable model for creating sustainable, successful housing pathways that don't rely on social housing waits.

Value of the process and next steps

Funding from Commonweal Housing has given us the capacity and expertise to test our idea, and without it, the premise would have remained a nebulous possibility. Now we understand that social investment isn't the right approach right now, although the process has brought to light other potential solutions to our housing challenges:

• Explore partnerships with housing associations that are willing to develop a tenancy switch model on a leasing basis

• Investigate alternative partnership possibilities with a housing association, topping up Homes England grants to build homes ringfenced for care leavers

• Utilise relevant policy developments that we can influence, such as local government devolution and the government's commitment to building 1.5 million new homes.

We will pursue these over the coming years as we continue to strive for housing solutions that give our young people the best possible chance to prosper and be happy. And thanks to the Call for New Ideas funding, we will be more knowledgeable and experienced in our pursuit.