For young people in supported accommodation who are not ready to move on by the age of 20, and if they are not eligible for support from Adults Services, consideration will be made to as to whether a referral to the Supported Accommodation team in Housing is required.
This team also currently commissions Centrepoint for provision, and is able to work with young people until the age of 25. They are also able to support young people into their own independent accommodation if appropriate.
For those planning to make a homelessness application, care leavers over the age of 21 will, as far as possible, be found as being in ‘priority need’ under homelessness legislation as a guiding principle. Nonetheless, the council remains obliged by homelessness legislation to consider individual facts and circumstances in every case, and reserves the right to depart from these principles in appropriate cases.
Those found to be in ‘priority need’ will receive the main housing duty and be housed temporarily until permanent housing can be secured, either via social housing or the private rented sector.
They would then be given Band 3 under the local allocations scheme, unless they meet the community contribution criteria, in which case the young person will be placed in Band 2. Any decision to not find care leavers in ‘priority need’ will be signed off at the Housing Director’s Discretion Panel.