When leaving care, there will be a few housing options to consider depending on your individual needs.
Your choices may include:
- Staying put arrangements
- Housing-related support
- Semi-independent accommodation
- University accommodation
- Friends and family
- Social housing tenancy, which may be either a council, or housing association property
- Private-rented accommodation
The best thing you can do is sit and discuss all your options with your personal advisor. Your personal advisor will refer you to the services you may need, once you have decided the best option for you.
Staying put arrangements
You may already be living with a foster family. If you’re happy there, and your foster carer is in agreement, then you can continue to stay on through to the ages of 18-21. This arrangement is called staying put.
Staying put will enable you to continue your relationship with your carer. This can be better than feeling the need to rush into having your own place, particularly if you're not ready.
We will help you to decide upon an agreement with your carer which will set out:
- what support you will receive
- what is expected of you and your carer in the home
- any financial contribution from you and the leaving care team
You will usually have to claim housing benefit to help cover the costs of your rent and make a contribution towards bills. Your personal advisor will support you to complete the housing benefit application with the correct information, and agree with you and your foster family, the costs to which you will contribute (for food, bills etc.).
Housing-related support
From 16, you can access housing-related support, through Lambeth’s Young Person’s Housing Support Pathway.
Housing-related support accommodation will be in buildings of up to 12 units, with predominantly shared facilities. These are small services, with staff support tailored to the needs of the young people within the building.
Staff support levels vary with some services having staff on-site 24 hours every day, while other services will have staff available Monday-Friday or visiting support. You will have access to a support worker who will help you to learn essential skills for living independently. The housing-related support service you move to will depend on what you personally require.
Housing-related support accommodation is located both in Lambeth and outside of Lambeth, in other areas of London.
This is a good option as a steppingstone towards managing your own tenancy. Within housing-related supported, you will be responsible for paying your own rent through wages or housing benefit. Supported housing is a great opportunity to prepare for living independently through management of your own rent and living in shared accommodation, while still having access to the support most suited to you.
Semi-independent accommodation
Where a staying put arrangement or housing-related support service is not appropriate, young people aged 16-18 years may move into semi-independent living accommodation. Remaining in this accommodation once you are over 18 would need to be agreed with your personal advisor.
This is generally shared accommodation, some of which will have staff on site 24/7. But there are also units that are standalone, with less staff support.
You will have access to a support worker who you will be expected to meet with regularly, and who will help you to learn essential skills for living independently. Depending on what you personally require, you may get 3, 5, 10 or more hours of 1-1 support per week.
University accommodation
If you intend on going to university, staying in halls of residence is a popular option. This type of accommodation can offer you invaluable opportunities to meet new friends and share experiences.
You’re also likely to be conveniently placed close to your lectures and social events, and well supported by the university if you need assistance.
You will be expected to pay for your university accommodation with your student finance loan (and bursaries and grants where received). Lambeth can support you to pay for accommodation costs outside of term time, by paying the housing benefit rate equivalent for your university accommodation during breaks.
You can stay in university accommodation during term time, then if an arrangement is in place, return to a staying put arrangement during university breaks. Your personal advisor can support you in arranging your accommodation during holidays.
Friends and family
Some young people chose to live with friends and family once they turn 18. This can be a big adjustment for both you and your family.
It’s important to talk this over with your personal advisor or social worker. They can help you think through the pros and cons, and consider what support might be needed if it’s the right arrangement for you.
Family Floating Support and Family Mediation services are available to help address family breakdown if you are to move in with family, including support with improving relationships and debt management. These services require a referral to access them, and your personal advisor will let you know if you have been referred.
Social housing tenancy
Social housing is low rent accommodation that is offered on a secure basis. As a Lambeth ‘former relevant’ care leaver, you will be offered priority bidding to get your own social housing tenancy after the age of 18 years.
This type of accommodation will either be a studio or one bedroom flat. You will be responsible for paying the rent, bills (such as gas and electricity), furnishing the flat (with our support) and reporting any maintenance issues.
For ‘former relevant’ care leavers, you can access the setting up home allowance of up to £2000, to help you buy essential things when moving into your own home. Your personal advisor will support you to access this.
Deciding you are ready to move into your own social housing property is an important decision. We will need to know that you are definitely ready to manage a tenancy before we will consider making an application for you. You should work with your personal advisor to complete your personal independence plan and discuss the steps you need to take to prepare for your own tenancy. To help prepare for your own tenancy you can complete the What Happens Next course, which your personal advisor can support you in arranging.
Managing your own property comes with a number of responsibilities and demands. For some young people, the reality of being in their own flat is not as they had imagined, and they can struggle with these responsibilities. Support services are available to help with the transition to independent accommodation. See ‘Support for the transition to independence’ below for more details on these services.
Private-rented accommodation
Accommodation can also be rented in the private-rented sector.
This will likely be shared accommodation and could be in any location either within London or outside.
You will be responsible for paying the rent charges to the landlord.
Lambeth’s Private-Rented Sector Move On Service can support you to source affordable private-rented sector accommodation. Your personal advisor will be able to put you in touch with the Private-Rented Sector Move On Service.
If you don’t live in Lambeth and want to stay in the area you are currently living, or if you would like to move out of the borough, private-rented accommodation is the most likely option for independent accommodation.
Managing your own private-rented tenancy comes with responsibilities and demands which some young people can find difficult. Lambeth’s floating support services are available to help with the transition to independent accommodation and sustaining a tenancy. See ‘Support for the transition to independence’ below for details on these services.
Financial support is available to help secure private-rented accommodation. The Private-Rented Sector Move On Service will pay landlords £1500 incentives to secure tenancies. If you source your own private-rented accommodation, your personal advisor can support you access up to £2000 to help towards the first months’ rent and deposit, through the Rent and Deposit Scheme.
Support for the transistion into independence
Lambeth has launched a three-tiered floating support service to help young people transition to independence and sustain independent tenancies.
Referrals are required to access this service and your personal advisor will let you know if you have been referred.
Three levels of support are available:
- Low-level tenancy support through Settle, providing 1 hour of support a week.
- Medium level tenancy support through St Giles Trust, providing 3 hours of support a week.
- Housing First service, provided by Centrepoint. This service providers intensive support in social housing for young people with complex needs.
Living outside of Lambeth
If you don’t live in Lambeth, and want to stay in the area you are currently living, we will help you to explore what options are available to you.
Unfortunately, it can be difficult for young people to access social housing in some areas, and you may not be put on the council’s priority bidding list. In this case you could consider either renting privately or moving back to Lambeth for a year to book social housing here. You can then do a housing swap in the future.
Your personal advisor can help you think through the possibilities and advise you on other service which are available to support with moves outside of the borough.