Since becoming Chief Executive of Riverside, I have been travelling the length and breadth of the country visiting the homes we provide and the amazing difference our care and support services make.
Every day we see our services not only improve but turn people’s lives around and are a genuine lifeline for people. We know these services are the difference between just surviving or thriving. Our services provide a vital human connection which people desperately need.
The positive impact my colleagues make and the support they provide across the UK is nothing short of inspirational and humbling.
We are very proud of the help and support and the reach we deliver. But the truth is Riverside and other supported housing colleagues are facing extraordinarily challenging circumstances.
The biggest challenge is funding.
Truth be told, this funding challenge means that Riverside is not providing the scale of care and support services that we once did, but the scale of the need still remains.
In some cases, the length of the funding and the expectation to either deliver the same or more on the same funding, doesn’t deliver the life changing care and support our customers deserve.
In April, our Chief Officer of Care and Support, John Glenton, was part of a National Housing Federation delegation, which hand delivered a letter to the Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer at 10 Downing Street to warn of this financial crisis facing supported housing.
The letter was signed by more than 170 organisations, from fellow housing associations, charities, local councils and frontline services.
With many local authorities in extremely difficult financial positions, they are having to make really tough decisions because of their challenging budgets. When these decisions are made, we are seeing valuable supported housing services being decommissioned because they have to make choices on where to save.
The sad truth, however, is that, once these vital supported housing services are gone, the buildings are often rented or sold for other purposes, never to be replaced.
However, on a national level this is a false economy because the cost of running a supported housing service is much cheaper than a homeless family being placed in high-cost temporary accommodation. And as a country we end up paying more for our people to have poorer quality of lives and outcomes.
This government has done sterling work to deliver long-term funding certainty and stability to the housing sector. This includes an historic long-term settlement on social rents and providing the biggest boost to social housing in a generation. As a sector, we are genuinely excited about the future.
Now is the time for this government to push forward again and provide that same long-term funding certainty for some of the most vulnerable people in society.
Supported housing, as we all know, exists to help people who need some additional support to live independently or to get their life back on track following the trauma time in their life.
Now is the time for this government to come out and show how it’s going to step up for supported housing.
Labour has a proud history in our sector with the Blair administration halving homelessness, almost eradicating rough sleeping and delivering the dedicated £1.6bn ‘Supporting People’ grant which transformed supported housing services.
We at Riverside are here to stand beside the government as willing partners with deep expertise and experience in delivering supported housing at scale.
Our message to Ministers and government is a simple one. Come and talk to us, come and visit our services. Come and see how we can provide a vital human connection which with investment can turn people’s lives around.
Let’s work together to build the world-class supported housing services our people deserve.
Paul Dolan is CEO of Riverside is a major charitable provider of social and affordable housing across England and Scotland, with more than 75,000 homes in 159 different local authorities and one of the biggest providers of care & support services across the country. The organisation supports people in a range of settings across mental health, homelessness, youth services, extra care for older people, and veterans supported housing.
You can hear more from Paul Dolan at Labour Housing Group’s fringe at Labour Party Conference in partnership with Riverside and Homelesslink: ,‘What is needed to end homelessness and rough sleeping under Labour?’ from 09:30-10:30 on Monday 29th September in the Arena Room – Kielder, ACC within the secure zone.