Brighton and Hove City Council is asking residents for views on its draft supported housing strategy, a 10-year plan for providing homes and support that help people recover from a crisis and live safely and more independently.
The council is consulting for six weeks, from Monday 9 November to Monday 21 December 2026.
Why the council needs a strategy
A new law, the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023, says every council must publish a supported housing strategy by 31 March 2027. The council says it has decided to plan over 10 years because changing the number and type of homes takes time, with a review and update by 2032, as the law requires.
Supported housing is a home that comes with care, support or supervision.
What the strategy covers
The council says the strategy covers three types of supported housing:
- housing for older people, such as sheltered housing, retirement housing and extra care housing
- long-term housing for working-age adults who need support, for example people with a learning disability, autism, long-term mental health needs, a physical or sensory disability, or a brain injury
- short-term housing that people move through on the way to a settled home, for example for people who have been homeless, young people, people leaving hospital or prison, people recovering from drug or alcohol problems, and people who have left an abusive partner
It also covers support that helps people stay in their own homes, Shared Lives, where people live with a trained host family, and Housing First, which provides a home with intensive wraparound support.
The draft strategy sets out five things the council wants to achieve over the next 10 years: services shaped by and around residents, people getting the right support at the right time, people living independent and healthier lives, supported housing that is safe and good quality, and a city with the supported housing it needs.
How many places the city has
The council says Brighton and Hove has around 4,580 supported housing places. About 2,670 are for older people, 1,440 are for people experiencing homelessness, in recovery or rehabilitation, and 470 are long-term places for working-age adults.
The council says the mix needs to change. For adults in transitional supported housing it says the city is likely to need more high-support places, more flexible housing-led approaches, better move-on and better use of what it already has. For young people it says provision needs to increase, with more family-type provision, step-down and high-support options. It also says the city needs more long-term supported living places for working-age adults and more extra care and sheltered places for older people.
What the council says
Councillor Gill Williams, Cabinet Member for Housing, said: “We very much welcome the new legislation around supported housing and the additional focus it brings.”
She said: “Done well, it can help people avoid long-term homelessness, can help people out of hospital sooner and help keep people out of care homes.”
She added: “We know we need more high-quality supported housing in the city. The key strand of our draft strategy is making sure homes are available to provide people with the right support at the right time. We’re very keen to hear resident views on the draft strategy, so please do have your say.”
How to have your say
Residents can read the draft strategy and take the survey on the council's Your Voice consultation page. A summary, an Easy Read version and key findings from the needs assessment are also available there.
For a paper copy of the survey with a prepaid return envelope, email shroa@brighton-hove.gov.uk or call 01273 29 64 90. The council's postal address for responses is SHROA, Housing Leadership Support Team, Brighton & Hove City Council Housing Centre, Unit 1, Fairway Trading Estate, Brighton BN2 4QL. Materials can also be requested in other formats, including accessible formats and community languages.
The council says it will review the feedback once the consultation closes and publish the final strategy, with a consultation report, in March 2027. For another supported housing project in the city, see our report on the Brickfields supported living scheme in Hove.
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