Teams

Housing and Accommodation Information

We work in partnership with private landlords, Rethink and Stonham to provide short term supported accommodation for people recovering from a mental illness. Referral to this service can be made by a healthcare worker from Wotton Lawn or a community team.

To meet the criteria, you must be receiving a service from either the recovery team, assertive outreach team or the GRIP team. Following referral, you will be assessed to consider whether you meet the criteria and whether the housing is suitable for your needs.

Other supported accommodation exists in Gloucestershire for those considered to have general needs for housing related support. If you meet the criteria for this support, a housing worker at the district council may refer your case to the START panel. The START panel will consider your eligibility for supported accommodation and whether it is appropriate for your case.

Properties

Stonham Home Group owns properties in central Cheltenham, providing 24 beds in shared accommodation and bedsits. Locations include the High Street, Swindon Road and Prestbury Road.

Rethink Mental Illness owns properties in Gloucester and Stroud, providing 21 beds in self-contained units. Locations include Claremont
Road, in Gloucester, and Folly Lane, Horns Road and Eagle Mill, in Stroud.

Gloucestershire Health and Care NHS Foundation Trust subcontracts properties from private providers in Gloucester, Cheltenham, the Forest of Dean and Stroud. These properties provide 150 beds in shared accommodation. Locations include Abbeydale, Gloucester City Centre, Matson, and Cinderford.

Practical details and limitations
We provide placements under licence agreements and shorthold tenancies. Service users are required to sign legal documents and need to have capacity to understand and adhere to them. If a service user breaks the terms of these legal agreements, warnings may be issued and, in some cases, eviction may occur.

The placement will often be funded by an application for Housing Benefit, with support from the Supporting People programme.

Sometimes the resident is also required to pay a personal contribution and the rate of contribution differs between providers.

Liaison Service

Our liasion service bridges the gap between housing services and mental health services. We advise on:

  • The difference between the separate community teams and what their roles are
  • How to access mental health services
  • The self-referral services available, i.e. Let’s Talk
  • Specific cases and contacts within services

Gloucestershire Health and Care (GHC) NHS Foundation Trust representatives will attend Start/ Shop/Gaps meetings in Gloucester and Cheltenham.

GHC’s supported accommodation team operates a telephone helpline to advise on access to mental health services and will be able to signpost individual cases.

Access to mental health support occurs through an individual’s GP, who can provide treatment, advice, assessment of symptoms and referral to a mental health team if necessary. GPs can also direct patients to an out of hours service.

Contact us
Our helpline number is 01452 894422.
The following information will help you to navigate the supported housing and housing sector locally. Shelter is a comprehensive website for further information.
Types of tenancy agreements
Licence

This is an agreement for shared facilities accommodation. Providers with the supported accommodation team use this agreement. The resident has sole use of a bedroom but will share the kitchen, bathroom and lounge.

The licence agreement has a clause for immediate eviction in unusual cases (usually violence) but in most cases the notice period will be 28 days.

Shorthold tenancy

This is an agreement for sole occupancy. This agreement provides the resident with more rights and therefore a longer notice period.

Read more about the difference here.

Maintaining a tenancy
There are two main organisations providing housing support in Gloucestershire to help individuals maintain a tenancy. You can self refer to these services and both services offer drop sessions at the district councils.

Greensquare – Gloucester, Tewkesbury and Forest of Dean

P3 – Cheltenham, Stroud and Cotswolds

Eviction
If you have been told that you are going to be evicted, it is a process that can be stopped or delayed if a landlord is doing this illegally. If the landlord is acting legally it is useful to know about the timescales of the process. If you have more time, you can get support from services to get alternative accommodation or legal help.

Find out more about eviction on the Shelter website.

Social housing and private rentals

Homeseeker

Gloucestershire Homeseeker is the bidding system for Social Housing. You will need to register online. Your local District Council can advise on this process.

https://www.homeseekerplus.co.uk/choice/

Private rental

You may meet the criteria for support with a rent deposit which will support you in obtaining rented accommodation. You will need to check what Universal Credit you will be entitled to, to ensure that the rented accommodation you can get will be affordable. Your Housing Officer at the District Council, P3 or Green Square will be able to advise on this

https://www.chac.org.uk/the-rent-deposit-scheme/

Where to get help

District councils and local connection

The District Council where you have a ‘local connection’ can advise you and can start to help 56 days prior to the end of a tenancy. There are six district councils in Gloucestershire.

Shelter offers a helpline. Find out more here.

Rough Sleepers

If you are concerned that you may be faced with rough sleeping, please contact P3 who operate a rough sleepers service and work closely with the City Mission.

13 to 15 Ladybellegate Street
Gloucester
Gloucestershire
GL1 2HN

Tel: 01452 221698

Open Monday-Friday, 10am – 5pm

Cheltenham

Navigator Cheltenham, Montrose House, Wellington Street, Cheltenham GL50 1XY

Tel: 01242 576002

Street link

This is a national website that enables members of the public to report rough sleepers to local services. In Gloucestershire if a rough sleeper is reported through Streetlink, the referral goes straight to P3’s rough sleeper service who will work to try and engage the rough sleeper with services.

www.streetlink.org.uk

City Mission

The city mission are based at the George Whitfield Centre, next to the food bank on Great Western Road. As well as providing year round day support, they provide a winter shelter.

http://www.gloscitymission.org.uk/

Accessible Housing

It’s estimated that 54% of social housing tenants in the UK have a long-term disability, 400,000 of wheelchair users are living in homes that are not adapted or accessible and only 1.5% of all homes planned over the next decade will be suitable for wheelchair users.

Our Specialist Housing Occupational Therapist Neil Withnell provides specialist advice and expertise on housing, disability and relevant legal issues in partnership with colleagues at our Trust, NHS Gloucestershire ICB, district housing partners, clients and carers. As part of his role, Neil campaigns for targets in local plans for accessible housing and is on hand to explain this complex issue and provide the evidence base informing it.

Neil appraises plans for new build housing, works on improving the Disabled Facilities Grant process and is seeking to create an accessible housing register for the County to make best use of the limited adapted stock available. As he explains:

“In the Cotswold District alone, 11 disabled residents are waiting for basic access to facilities through ground floor extensions. The cost in grants is over £1 million for these 11 cases but a new build wheelchair adaptable standard home only costs £15,819.00 extra per property (2 bed terraced in 2018).

“Having clear accessible housing targets across all Gloucestershire districts for M43 and M42 building regulation categories will dramatically improve the lives of disabled residents across the county, reduce OT waiting lists for adaptations, reduce the burden on the DFG grant officer process and save money and help improve our disabled residents’ employment prospects”.

Evidence/Stats for accessible Housing

  • 54% of social housing tenants nationally have a long term disability Foundations.uk.com
  • Habinteg estimates that nationally over 400,000 wheelchair users are living in homes which are neither adapted nor accessible
  • In 2014, just 7% (1.7 million) of homes in England had all four accessibility features that provide ‘visitability’: level access to the
    entrance, a flush threshold, sufficiently wide doorsets and circulation space, and a toilet at entrance level. English Housing Survey
  • 1.5% of all homes planned nationally (in England) over the next decade will be suitable for wheelchair users Habinteg insight report
  • On average a three bedroom semi-detached house would cost an extra £521 to build to the Lifetime Homes Standard itself, with a further space cost of £866 – an overall total of £1,387 per dwelling Cost Report
  • There is an estimated 20,000 people on English local authority waiting lists for a fully wheelchair-accessible home. A further 104,000 people are waiting for an accessible or adaptable home. At the current rate of building, a wheelchair user joining the list today could wait
    up to 47 years for a new home that meets their needs Habinteg
  • In the Cotswolds District there are currently 11 patients waiting for ground floor extensions; many of whom are wheelchair users. At an average cost of £90,000 per patient, this figure amounts to over one million pounds in total, when the staff costs from all the agencies are included. In the Forest of Dean there is currently a further eight patients waiting for the same costly adaptations. Delivery of new build wheelchair accessible housing could enable significant savings on the public finances where people with disabilities are willing to move and, importantly, reduce the burden on overstretched community adaptation services, as highlighted by this report from the London School of Economics.

Email Neil.Withnell@ghc.nhs.uk to request the above stats in a leaflet or poster format.

Neil’s message for partner organisations is:

“You can help make a difference by supporting the call for defined accessible housing targets in Gloucestershire in your organisation. Contact me: Neil.Withnell@ghc.nhs.uk to find out more”.

Neil has been recognised for his work at the National Healthy Housing Awards on 5 December 2023. Find out more

Find out more about our ICT Occupational Therapy service here

Useful information

Citizens Advice Bureau

The citizens advice bureau has an excellent section on housing and a local office providing support. They can offer impartial advice on housing and any decisions made by the District Council

www.citizensadvice.org.uk/housing

75-81 Eastgate Street, Gloucester ·
Phone: 01452 527202

3 St. Georges Place, Cheltenham GL50 3LA.
Phone: 01452 527202

8 Brunel Mall London Road, Stroud GL5 2BP
Phone: 0808 800 0510

Belle Vue Centre, Belle Vue Road, Newnham GL14 2AB
Phone: 0344 411 1444

Cheltenham Housing Aid

Cheltenham Housing Aid is an independent charity based in Cheltenham that offers advice on housing.

www.chac.org.uk/

Shelter

https://england.shelter.org.uk/

0808 800 4444

Accessibility