Specialist housing for younger adults

Finding suitable housing or adapting to your current home can make a huge difference to your quality of life, whether you need support yourself or are caring for someone else. We may be able to help widen your understanding of your housing needs.

We have a duty to assess anyone who appears to have care and support needs under the Care Act 2014.

This could mean we should:

  • assess your needs and give you advice, whatever your financial circumstances
  • provide information about services and support options available to you in your area
  • give you a carer's assessment if you are an unpaid family carer

The assessment by adult social services is important because it will help you work out what your difficulties are and consider what support options, including your housing arrangement, you might have.

The cost of housing options varies and the amount you pay is dependent on your individual financial circumstances. You will need to request an assessment to find out how much of a contribution you will need to pay.

Request an assessment or review from adult social services

We can give you information, advice and guidance to help you remain independent. Where you may require additional help we can assess you to see if you have eligible needs or to review your current care package.

How to request an assessment or review

Housing options

Below is a range of housing options that you might want to consider. These include:

  • moving to a more appropriate setting
  • moving to a more appropriate residence or
  • making adaptations to your current home

All may be appropriate whether you own your own home or rent from a private or social landlord. It is important that you take account of any financial implications and consequences for you.

Having a severe disability should never stand in the way of buying your own home.

Home Ownership for People with Long-Term Disabilities (HOLD) can help you buy any home that's for sale on a shared ownership basis if you have a long-term disability.

You can only apply for HOLD if the properties available through the other home ownership schemes don't meet your needs, for example; if you need a ground-floor property.

For mortgage advice contact My Safe Home for more information and support.

Social housing is affordable housing that you rent from the borough or district council or from a housing association (sometimes called a registered social landlord).

How to get social housing

  • To get housing, you need to join a waiting list. There is usually just one list for both types of housing.
  • To join the list you have to fill in a form about yourself informing the council of what your needs are and how you are living now.
  • Once they have looked at your form, they decide the level of need for you to get a house. They will give you a letter; A, B, C or D. A being for people who have the most need.
  • A learning disability or medical need often means someone has a higher priority - this means it is important to find them somewhere to live.
  • Every week there is a list of homes that are available. This list is usually on the council's website, in a newsletter and in a file in the housing office.
  • If you are on the housing list, you can look for a house that you like and tell the council that you want it. This is called 'bidding'.
  • They then look at the people who have bid on the house and ask the people who most need a house to go and view it.

To apply for housing in your local area click on your area below:

​You can rent accommodation that is not owned by the borough or district council or housing associations. This is generally known as renting privately.

If you are planning on renting a property privately please speak to your council to ensure the property is safe and that the landlord is creditable. 

Use the links below to find out more information:

​Supported living or independent living services aim to keep people in the community with as much independence as possible but with appropriate support.

They may include providing suitable or adapted accommodation which can be your own home and some forms of personal care. This kind of support may benefit someone who wants to continue living where they are or who is moving elsewhere, such as to a hostel or shared accommodation of some type.

Services that support independent living may include help to access training and employment, help with claiming benefits or social skills. They could also include life skills such as healthy eating and budgeting.

The Supported Living Scheme provides you with your own tenancy, this is either a joint tenancy in a shared home or by yourself in your own home.

To find out what is available please speak to your social worker or support worker.

​Shared lives matches adults who have care and support needs with people who act as carer's to give them help and support.

In many cases the adult will live with someone who acts as their carer in the carers own home. This could be a long-term placement or a short stay, such as following on from a period in hospital.

In some cases, the carer will support someone who continues to live in their own home, but the carer will act as a family member, providing a consistent relationship and emotional support.

Olympus Care Services manage the Northamptonshire Shared Lives Scheme.

​If you have physical health problems, your local borough or district council could help to find a property which has already been adapted in a way that meets your needs. Alternatively, they may be able to get a housing grant to cover any adaptations which need to be made.

Northamptonshire is surrounded by Bedfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Warwickshire, Leicestershire and Cambridgeshire.

If you want to live outside the County boundary and access housing rented through a housing association or local council then you may need a local connection. Please check their Local Lettings Policies for more details.

If you are moving to another area and plan to stay there long term, you have the right to become an ‘Ordinary Resident’ of that area. This means you have adopted this new place as your home.

You can then notify the destination authority of your Ordinary Residence and once they’ve assessed the genuineness of this intention, that destination authority must assess the individual and tell them their entitlement towards care and support.

More information on Ordinary Residence.

Benefits and allowances

Housing Benefits

Housing Benefit helps pay the rent if you rent from a council or housing associations. It's a benefit administered by your local council.

Rents in these properties can be set at any level because they are meant to charge less that market rents as they have subsidies from central government. This pot is unlimited at the moment so if a housing association wants to charge £150 a week per service user for a three bed bungalow, the council will pay this rate as long as they can show why the rent has been set at this level. The rent is also not time limited at present. 

Usually the council or housing association will progress the claim and have a key contact with the local HB department. However, if you need further advice please use your local contact above.

Local housing allowance (LHA)

Local housing allowance is Housing Benefit that helps pay the rent if you rent from a private landlord. It's a benefit administered by your local borough or district council.

If a private landlord is asking for a rent above the LHA rates per area then the council in that area can offer a discretionary housing payment (DHP) to support any of our clients with the shortfall in rent. This is a discretionary award and is at the discretion of the Council to award it is also not an on-going award. The payment usually lasts 13 weeks. In that time the tenant should have found a job to cover the shortfall or found alternative accommodation which they can afford, in the majority of cases this may not be an option to our clients.

The LHA rate

The LHA rate is based on the number of people in the property. So for example; if a private landlord accepts 3 of your clients and they have three separate tenancies or on one tenancy as joint tenants, they will all need to make a claim for Housing Benefits. If they have an overnight non-resident carer this will entitle them to an extra bedroom for LHA purposes. So if we found a 4 bed bungalow and 3 people to share plus an over night carer the LHA rate would more than likely cover the full rent.

Our clients should be eligible for Housing Benefit if they are on a low income or benefits and have savings less that £16,000.

Rates and who to contact

Below are the rates per district and borough council and who to contact. To make a claim, download the relevant form. You can get someone to help complete the form for your client.

Corby

Daventry

East Northants

Kettering

Northampton

South Northamptonshire

Wellingborough

Care Quality Commission (CQC)

The CQC is an independent health and adult social services regulator. Its job is to make sure that the health and social care services offer safe, effective and high quality care.

All care providers should be registered with the Care Quality Commission – check out their reports and ratings, and ask for customer testimonials.