Supported Housing Review

The Assignment

Suffolk County Council (SCC) commissioned 31ten to support its Supported Housing Redesign, to provide insight and challenge to the development of a future-proofed housing vision and model. The Council required two key objectives to be met through the project:

  • Provide an understanding of costs and business models for Supported Housing in Suffolk.
  • Deliver recommendations on the delivery of sustainable Supported Housing services in Suffolk. Including consideration of:
    • The need to maximise independence opportunities for service users
    • The commercial considerations for providers
    • How Suffolk compared to other areas and learning that can be drawn from these
    • The opportunities to develop partnerships with private and public housing stakeholders
    • The financial sustainability of the Council

The Role

  • Using our previous experience in this area we were able to work with Suffolk to quickly undertake a comprehensive data analysis and benchmarking exercise to provide a robust understanding of the true costs and business model for Supported Housing in Suffolk and their opportunity areas.
  • We conducted over 40 engagements with providers, service users and Council staff to get a rounded understanding of the local picture.
  • We developed a scenario-based financial model demonstrating the opportunities for Suffolk to make changes to its current model and the associated financial impacts.
  • We worked closely with officers to present findings to senior leaders and key stakeholders.

Key Outcomes

We developed a series of recommendations focused on how Suffolk could deliver sustainable services for residents and use its commercial position to shape and strengthen the local market. These were agreed upon by the senior management team and are being taken forward by their dedicated programme resource.