What is supported lodgings?

What is supporting lodgings?

Supported lodgings is when you share your home with a young person. You provide a safe home and help them learn to live on their own. Most young people who need supported lodgings are aged 16 to 18 and they may have left foster care or experienced a family breakdown. You support them by offering practical advice and helping them to manage their lifestyle and become more independent.

Who can provide supported lodgings?

You can be have any employment status or family situation. The most important thing is that you can care for a young person and work as part of a team. Some supported lodgings providers are former foster carers who want to return to work or prefer working with teenagers. Others have no previous experience in foster care and simply wish to support a young person to become independent. 

Providing supported lodgings appeals to many people as it offers a way to help young people while still giving you flexibility in your lifestyle. You feel many of the same rewards as fostering but can also continue with work and other activities.

Find out more about your suitability by visiting the Can I provide supported lodgings? page.

Who are the young people who need supported lodgings?

There are all types of young people who need supported lodgings in Essex. You get to meet them before offering your home to them so you can be sure that they're a good fit for you. 

Young people may need a place to live because:

• they are leaving foster care but aren't ready to live on their own
• their family situation has changed
• they have mental health issues or want to learn to manage their behaviour
• they have learning difficulties so may find it difficult to live on their own
• they are unaccompanied asylum seekers aged 16 or 17
• they are pregnant and don't have anywhere else to live. These young people often want to stay in their supported lodgings with their baby once it is born. We offer special training and assistance for providing lodgings to young pregnant people.

Once experienced as a supported lodging carer you may wish to explore a new scheme that we are developing to offer some more complex young people under a Specialist Supported Lodging Scheme.

There will be a bespoke training programme and support for these  placements for young people with higher needs levels for example; mental health or behavioural difficulties. 

A further new service that supported lodging carers can explore is the PACE Bed Scheme, which a supported lodging carer can be considered for to provide accommodation to young people needing overnight accommodation, before appearing in court the next day, or after the weekend. 

For a young person who is an unaccompanied asylum seeking child they will have experienced a range of difficulties resulting in them seeking a safe place to live, that may have involved them fleeing their home land, often having to leave their family members and experiencing a significant journey travelling across several countries in whatever modes of transport they could find.

What pay and support will I receive?

You earn a weekly wage for providing supporting lodgings and young people get a weekly allowance to pay for their food and clothes.

You will undergo training as you qualify to become a supported lodgings provider and once you are qualified. We offer 24/7 support from a team of social workers so you can always get help if you need it.

Once qualified, you may wish to explore training schemes to look after young people with higher needs such as mental health or behavioural difficulties. You can also choose to join our PACE Bed Scheme where you provide accommodation to young people needing emergency overnight accommodation.

Ask about housing a young person

Do you have a question about housing a young person that isn't answered here? Try our Supported lodgings FAQ.