The need for supported housing for people with learning disabilities and autistic people is as great as it ever was. Housing LIN estimated in their 2023 ‘A lifeline for Lifetime Independence’ report, that an estimated 35,000 – 37,000 people currently live in supported housing. However, a shortfall in available supported housing units of c1,800 – 2,200 per annum means that some people who would like to move into supported housing are unable to. Whilst some people with learning disabilities and autistic people live with family and friends or in residential and nursing care settings, more than 2,000 are living in completely inappropriate inpatient hospital facilities.

Providing one solution to the need for more supported housing in this sector is why the Resonance Supported Homes Fund was created. It is currently working with two housing partners to buy and refurbish properties across the UK to provide decent and safe homes for both single people and small groups of people to live together in shared housing.

When people with learning disabilities and autistic people are able to live in the right home for them, with the support they need, then they are able to live their lives with independence and choice.

One of the fund’s housing partners is Golden Lane Housing (GLH), one of the country’s leading supported housing landlords for people with learning disabilities and autistic people. Nine properties, a mix of shared homes and one-bed properties, are being purchased for GLH by the fund. Most of these properties are in Oxfordshire, and one of them a large, shared property in Whitney, is now home to five tenants.

In our short film, below, Helen Ferguson, Senior Development Officer at GLH, explains about the work that GLH does and how it is working with the Resonance Supported Homes Fund. She also introduces the property that the five tenants have recently moved in to and the refurbishment done to create a welcoming home, enabling them to live their lives with support to be independent and fulfil their potentials.

One of the tenants now living in this property is Chantelle, who recently said, “This house makes a whole lot of difference to my life at the moment – I was so happy to find it.”

ABOUT THE RESONANCE SUPPORTED HOMES FUND

Thousands of adults with learning disabilities, autistic people, and people with mental health issues are living in inappropriate housing or on lengthy waiting lists for housing due to the severe housing shortage. The Resonance Supported Homes Fund is a social impact investment property fund that is working to address this issue.

With the help of four investors through social impact investments, the fund has already bought twenty-one properties, a combination of shared and single-family homes. In order to ensure that they satisfy the complex requirements of each tenant, all of the purchased houses have undergone extensive refurbishments and renovations.

So far, Golden Lane Housing and United Response, two of the fund’s expert housing partners, have received eight properties and between them, six of these properties currently house fifteen people. And while the fund is continuing to deploy, there are renovations going on at other properties to ensure even more people can benefit from a home that is right for them and that can provide them with an opportunity to lead their lives with independence and choice.