We're campaigning to save the UK's supported housing from funding cuts

It’s why we’re part of Starts At Home – a national campaign (led by the National Housing Federation) highlighting how important supported housing is.

The campaign is about getting a message to the government and decision makers: commit to real action and invest in the future of supported housing before more vital services are lost.

This is nothing the Prime Minister and Chancellor haven't already heard - back in April, a letter signed by more than 170 organisations (including Porchlight) was hand delivered to 10 Downing Street.

Today (Starts at Home day - 29 August) is about keeping the pressure on and calling for change.

The facts

Without supported housing:

• 41,000 more people would face homelessness
• the NHS would face 110,000 extra days of beds being used because patients can't be discharged to a safe home.

Supported housing about more than just putting a roof over someone’s head. It’s also about the specialist support that people receive once they’re living inside. At Porchlight, it's about giving someone who's been homeless support with their mental health, helping them access drug and alcohol recovery services, and offer advice related to debt management and finding work.

What needs to happen

The Starts at Home campaign is calling on the government to:

• Urgently commit to long-term, sustainable funding for support services in supported homes. This needs to be done at the Autumn Budget and in the forthcoming housing and homelessness strategies. 
• Create an emergency fund for supported-housing support services in the Autumn Budget to prevent more schemes from having to close their doors this year.
• Allocate enough of the new Affordable Homes Programme funding to the building of new supported and older persons’ housing and improve the conditions for bidding for small organisations.

The bottom line

Ultimately, supported housing saves lives. It's about more than just putting a roof over someone's head. A lot of the work that allows people to overcome the trauma they've experienced and rebuild their lives takes place inside. And with more people that ever being pushed into poverty, homelessness and mental ill health, we can't afford to lose it.

Find out more about the Starts at Home campaign