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A partnership of agencies in South West England commissioned a review of supported housing, with the primary aim of linking supported housing (and the Supporting People programme) with other regional strategies and initiatives such as housing, health, crime reduction and community safety. The review produced a new conceptual framework for the planning and management of housing and support services, with a strong emphasis on aims and outcomes. It also brought together data on current services across the region and identified key trends and issues to be addressed. Many of the recommendations and proposals have been incorporated into the draft Regional Housing Strategy, due to be finalised in May 2005.

Housing and support are essential if people misusing drugs and alcohol are to address their substance misuse and their other physical, mental and emotional health needs. If their housing and related support needs are not addressed at each stage of the treatment journey, they are much less likely to enter or remain in treatment. This article outlines the policy context, discusses barriers in service development, explores the role of housing with support for substance users and gives examples of imaginative commissioning and provision. It is based on recent work for the Department of Health Care Services Improvement Partnership.

This article is a study of how Nottinghamshire Drug and Alcohol Action Team used Drug Intervention Programme monies to support partnership working in Nottinghamshire to secure supported housing for drug‐using offenders who were fast‐tracked into treatment by their involvement with the Criminal Justice System. The article identifies lessons learnt in relation to partnership engagement, community involvement and the importance of involving wrap‐around services in holistic delivery of supported housing and treatment. It also identifies the ongoing challenges of meeting the needs of service users alongside those of housing providers, and looks at very quick wins in relation to housing for substance misusers from bond schemes and use of established debt advisors who can support individuals in their resettlement needs.

The shared housing model has been used widely for many years in association with supported housing. It is the subject of debate among providers and commissioners, who may regard it as old‐fashioned and not conducive to independent living, but for some clients and organisations it continues to offer a positive option in helping alleviate loneliness and isolation. Current growth in the work of social landlords and their agents includes a wider range of client groups with a variety of aspirations and support needs. Shared housing may offer new opportunities to these groups. With the new emphasis on neighbourhoods and inclusion, does the shared housing model possess attributes that commend it to communities in new ways, or is it a model of the past? The article offers suggestions to enable shared housing to be evaluated as part of housing associations' business plans while keeping a focus on residents' views, as reflected in 25 case study locations.

The National Housing Federation's initiative, In Business for Neighbourhoods, urges all housing associations to ensure that they focus on users, to diversify funding and manage costs, while working in partnerships with others to serve the whole population of a community or neighbourhood. General‐needs housing providers can't be ‘in business for neighbourhoods’ without meeting the needs of frail older people, care leavers, people recently released from prison or women fleeing domestic violence. Providers of supported housing hold in their hands many of the tools to enable this engagement.Supported housing is the only part of the housing association sector with a clear and untainted focus on users, the only part with a rigorous focus on costs and efficiency and the only part developed through partnership, owing everything to partnership. In their report, In Business to Support People ‐ the Future of Supported Housing, Julia Unwin and Peter Molyneux argue that supported housing agencies must be allowed to find ways to grow as organisations and to cope with a highly unstable market if they are to respond effectively to the challenges posed by increasing demand for citizenship and choice.

This article describes the development of the Supported to Independent Living project (SIL), which is for the support and care for people with mental health needs in Oxfordshire to live as independently as possible in ordinary housing in the community. The project is a partnership between NHS Oxfordshire (Primary Care Trust), the Oxfordshire Supporting People programme and Oxfordshire County Council Social and Community Services.Although there was a very vigorous development of community living for people with longstanding mental health needs through the provision of group homes, particularly in Oxford City that started in 1963, there has not been an overall strategy for the development of mental health services for the County as a whole. The needs of a diverse, younger, often more mobile and potentially more challenging group of service users for housing with appropriate care and support have not been met.A joint strategy between the County Council and the Primary Care Trust (PCT) to meet these needs has therefore been developed that introduces a pathway of linked accommodation and support arrangements. These range from intensive support through to floating support in the community, and are intended to offer individuals a guided pathway away from specialist services to more mainstream provision. The services are based on the principles of recovery, personalisation and ordinary housing.As well as achieving significantly reconfigured services the strategy has to deliver savings to meet the cuts imposed on the Supporting People programme grant by Central Government.The project has involved the PCT and the County Council in close partnership working, and important and significant involvement of and engagement with service users and carers. A framework agreement has been agreed by all of the organisations involved. It sets out the roles and responsibilities of each and covers local government, the NHS, housing and support.

This article reports on a recent study carried out by Sitra on behalf of the Yorkshire & Humber Housing Related Support Group, which resulted in the publication of Prevention and Personalisation ‐ the case for Housing Related Support (Sitra, 2010). The study demonstrated that a wide range of relatively inexpensive housing‐related support services across the region were cost‐effective and worked in accordance with choice and control, showing that the principles of prevention and personalisation can complement one another.

Local housing authorities are responsible for meeting the priority housing and support needs of the local community, regardless of tenure. Under the Government's policies to develop their ‘community leadership’ role and implement Supporting People, they also have an increasing responsibility, with social services and other services, to support needs in the community. The Chartered Institute of Housing has published good practice guidance on housing and services for people with support needs, outlined in this article.

Social inclusion means ensuring that all individuals, despite any particular perceived ‘differentness’ (Sayce, 2000; Harrison & Davis, 2001) or disadvantage in life, may nevertheless feel at home in the world and find a sense of belonging in their local community. But the most important place to feel at home is at home.

This article highlights the links between housing and health and suggests that the health sector has much to benefit from joined‐up working with the housing and support sector. There are advantages to both sectors of working in this way, particularly in the area of commissioning services. By working creatively together at key points along the care pathway, local partners can support each other in the delivery of services. Many housing associations are uniquely placed to deliver services that offer key solutions to person‐centred working and can help to build healthier communities.