Page 11 - Community Living Magazine 35-1

supported living

with providers who were looking for
property. At the same time, providers
were telling me they were struggling to
find landlords to work with.
I was lucky to get together with four
people with diverse skillsets and a
combined passion and, together, we
developed the Supported Living Gateway.
This allows landlords to list their property
for supported living providers to lease all
over England, Wales and Scotland.
We are passionate about high-quality
property and get very frustrated if people
suggest poor-quality property would be
good enough for supported living.
There is a transparent fee structure. The
Gateway is free for supported living Before and after: bathroom refitted to meet the needs of someone with complex disabilities
organisations to use. We take the first
month’s rent from the property investor complex needs who may need a more
as an arrangement fee once a lease has bespoke property created to meet their Landlords did not know how
been agreed. needs, such as the bungalow I developed. to find providers looking for
On the back of this, we ended up setting
Buying to build bespoke up and running courses for property property. At the same time,
We are now moving into the next phase investors to help them understand providers were struggling to
of the service, where investors are looking supported living better. We then realised
to buy property to meet the needs of that many supported living providers do find landlords to work with
supported living providers and tenants. not understand property so we are
This means providers can list the kind of developing training for them too.
homes they need and is especially useful We see the Gateway as an intermediary properties, we are beginning to campaign
for those supporting people with more between the two groups. Through to increase awareness of the need for
training, we hope them. We hope this will increase the
they will availability of mortgages and lead to them

Confused about supported communicate being more competitively priced.
better, with the goal
Supported living has been seen as a
living and tenancy of working together safe investment model for institutional
to create more
lending for some time. However, the
management? high-quality homes larger funds are generally only interested
in the more lucrative deals – blocks of
for those who need
them most. flats or larger properties.
Supported living differs significantly from There is a move away from shared

residential care in many ways Barriers accommodation and a growing need for
There are still many individual homes for people with specific
These include the legal implications of tenancy hurdles, however. needs, especially with Transforming Care.
management, resident capacity and the complexities Buy-to-let This gap can be closed by private
of managing a support service where the housing mortgages are landlords who understand the long-term
function is outside a social services contract. difficult to get for commitment needed.
landlords letting to Also, private landlords are generally more
Suzanne Gale has worked in the public sector for supported living open to shorter leases, so providers are not
30 years and has extensive experience of social tenants, especially if forced into committing to 15- or 25-year
housing and adult social care there is 24-hour, leases just so they can get a property.
on-site care; they We have ambitious plans to make more
She offers a range of training and support, including cost more and are property available for supported housing.
courses for local authorities and provider seen as higher risk. Through this, we hope to give local
organisations as well as for service Likewise, insurance authorities and providers more choice
users and their support networks costs more and is over leases – in both length and terms –
harder to obtain. which we hope will meet everyone’s
Training can be tailored to meet These barriers are needs better. It will also make landlords
your needs frustrating and more aware of the need for property for
something we are supported living. n
To find out more, visit www. hoping to change.  www.supportedlivinggateway.com

beaufortnineltd.com or email By demonstrating
beaufortnineltd @outlook.com the collective, Lisa Brown is co-founder of Supported
nationwide demand Living Gateway and host of the Supported
for so many Living Property Podcast

www.cl-initiatives.co.uk Community Living Vol 35 No 1 | Autumn 2021 11