HSEU News: Scotland’s housing support services can generate ‘at least £4.85 worth of benefit from every £1 spent on delivery’.

Leading academic experts from the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence (CaCHE) will today explain at the online launch event for a new report how typical housing support services in Scotland can generate at least £4.85 worth of benefit from every £1 spent on delivery.

The research, ‘Delivery and Funding of Housing Support in Scotland – Assessing Costs and Benefits of Typical Services’, examines two typical housing support services – one for sheltered housing and the other aimed at preventing homelessness – and finds that they deliver cost to benefit ratios of £1:£4.85 and £1:£12.88 respectively.

‘Housing support’ is often misunderstood. It plays a vital role in sustaining tenancies, enabling independent living, and preventing escalating social care and health costs. Far more than the bricks and mortar of housing provision, housing support encompasses a broad and often complex mix of practical, emotional, and social interventions that allows people to live well in their homes.

Lead report author Professor Ken Gibb explained:

“Our research demonstrates that housing support generates large net returns, which aligns with the intuition and expectation of many sector professionals.  It is our view that housing support services should be a public policy expenditure priority to ensure they continue to – and that they increasingly – play a critical preventative role in delivering on many governmental and widely held societal objectives, for the benefit of the public purse.”

 Yvette Burgess, Director of the Housing Support Enabling Unit, added:

“This report confirms what our sector has long known – that housing support is critical to enabling people to live good lives, independently, where they want to be. It seems that, with increased visibility and attention, existing housing support models could be exemplars for the kind of reform and renewal the Scottish Government seeks. Without greater visibility and attention, however, these exemplar services run the risk of being cut or withdrawn, to the detriment of health, wellbeing and social care in Scotland, now and in future.”

Susie Fitton, SFHA Policy Manager, said:

“Scotland is experiencing a housing emergency, but we can’t simply build our way out of that. We need the right homes, in the right places, with the right support so that people can live well. This crucial research makes clear how vital continued investment in housing support is as part of our response to the emergency – and that it makes not just moral but fiscal sense for the Scottish Government to invest in it.”

Notes to editors:

The report was authored by five academics from the UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence (CaCHE): Michael Marshall and Rhiannon Williams (University of Sheffield), Kenneth Gibb (University of Glasgow), Vikki McCall (University of Stirling) and Frances Harkin (HACT)

The research was commissioned by the Housing Support Enabling Unit (HSEU), Scottish Federation of Housing Associations (SFHA), the Scottish Commission for People with Learning Disabilities (SCLD), Hanover Scotland, Blackwood Homes and Care, Eildon Housing Association, Simon Community Scotland, and Frontline Fife.

Report downloads:

Delivery and Funding of Housing Support in Scotland – Executive Summary

Delivery and Funding of Housing Support in Scotland