Funding housing

Arranging how you are going to pay for housing is as important as finding somewhere suitable to live. If you are on a low income or unable to work because of mental illness it is likely that you will be able to apply for benefits and these may cover some or all of the cost of housing.

Under certain circumstances, the social services department may fund certain types of housing. Some of the sources of funding that may be open to you include;

Housing benefit
Housing benefit is money that people on benefits, such as income support or incapacity benefit, or low incomes can get help to pay their rent. Whether you can get housing benefit, and how much you get, usually depends on:

  • whether you have to pay rent for the property you live in
  • your personal circumstances (for example, your age and how much money you have)
  • how much rent you pay
  • the size of your accommodation
  • who lives with you

Section 117
If you have been on a section 3, when you leave hospital you will be transferred onto a section 117. This entitles you to free aftercare while you are on the section.

Aftercare can include use of a day centre, talking therapies but can also include supported housing. Supported housing could include living in a group home or flat and having people live in or come in to help you, or it could be having support workers come to the home you were living in previous to your hospital admission.

If your accommodation is provided as part of a section 117 discharge package it should be fully funded by Social Services regardless of your savings or income.

The section 117 comes to an end when you are able to support yourself and can only be ended in a meeting between the people involved in your care, yourself and carers that you wish to be there.

Supporting people
 If you are going to live in supported housing or in your own home and need support to enable you to stay there, this should be provided by the ‘Supporting People’ scheme.

The services are separate from other support provided by the mental health team or through community care. The aim is to enable you to live as independently as possible.

Local authorities have a special budget which covers services provided under this scheme.