Drawing on the Centre’s many years experience in providing services to those who are vulnerable and/or facing social or economic disadvantage in our community we have now established floating support services as part of the Supporting People program. The service provides a range of support depending on client’s needs, to help new tenants manage the start of their tenancy and existing tenants to maintain their tenancies and live independently.

What is floating Support?

· Floating support enables vulnerable tenants within the community to receive the support they need and remain in their existing home.
· Support is linked directly to the individual and not the property they live in.
· If the tenant moves the support will move with them
· The support given can be very flexible to meet individual needs
· Support is delivered regularly in the tenants home giving the opportunity to anticipate and reduce tenancy breakdowns
· If the tenant has a high level of need, more support can be arranged to ensure they can sustain their tenancy

Who can benefit from floating support?

Supporting People services are designed to provide support to a wide range of vulnerable people aged over 16. People who can receive support from whabac could include:

· People with mental health problems
· People with learning disabilities
· People with a physical or sensory disability
· Single homeless people and homeless families with support needs
· People with alcohol and drug problems
· Offenders or people at risk of offending
· Young people starting their first tenancy

Support may be required to:

· Provide crisis intervention for existing tenancies where it is possible the tenancy may be terminated
· Provide people with mental health problems short term help in a crisis
· To help vulnerable, lonely or isolated individuals live independently in the community
· Help people with limited literacy, numeracy and life skills requiring assistance
· Help people with poor budgeting and money management skills avoid creating rent arrears and debt
· Assist people who have been homeless and those with unsettled housing histories to sustain their tenancies

What support services can be provided?

· Help in setting up and maintaining a tenancy
· Help in developing domestic/social/life skills
· Advice, advocacy and liaison with other agencies
· Help in managing finances and benefit claims
· Emotional support counselling and advice
· Help in gaining access to other services
· Help in finding alternative accommodation

More about our service

The aim of the Housing Support Service is to offer vulnerable people the opportunity to improve their quality of life by providing a stable environment, which enables greater independence. The level and duration of support provided will depend on the client’s individual needs and their motivation to work in partnership with the support worker.
The service cannot be used to provide personal care or where permanent support is required.

The service is currently available to:

· Tenants of Worcester City Council, including both single people and families
· Offenders and those at risk of offending
· Single people (including childless couples) who are, or have been homeless or vulnerably housed.

Support to single people and offenders can be provided in both social housing and private sector tenancies. Support for offenders is available within Worcestershire and for the single homeless within Worcester City only.