For Supported Housing Week, Sanctuary Supported Living shares how strong partnerships at two Manchester services are helping people with experience of homelessness move from rough sleeping into settled homes.
Sanctuary Supported Living provides personalised housing, care and support to help people with a wide range of needs live as independently as possible. Victoria House and Stanley Grove are two of its homelessness services in Manchester.
Effective homelessness support is about more than a roof. For many residents, supported housing is a lifeline: a safe home with the right support around it, so people can build the skills, confidence and stability to live independently.
The Challenge
Many residents arrive after periods of rough sleeping or repeated stays in temporary and supported accommodation. They are often dealing with several challenges at once, including poor mental health, complex physical health needs, reduced mobility, drug and alcohol dependency, trauma, rent arrears and difficulty engaging consistently with support.
Some people need support that traditional homelessness pathways struggle to offer. That includes couples, people with reduced mobility and people with particularly complex needs. One couple had been unable to find suitable accommodation together, because the pathway was largely designed around single adults.
Staff were also working within a fragmented system. Housing, healthcare, treatment services, benefits support and move-on accommodation were all delivered by different agencies. Without strong coordination, residents faced delays, repeated referrals and support that didn’t reflect their circumstances or changing needs.
What Sanctuary changed
The team set out to organise support around the whole person, with services working together to remove barriers.
- A single point of contact – at Victoria House, every resident has a keyworker who coordinates their support, move-on planning and the agencies involved.
- A wide network of partners – staff work closely with Manchester City Council, hospital and prison discharge teams, probation services, housing brokerage teams, other housing providers and private landlords to help residents find stable homes and the support to keep them.
- Specialist support on hand – residents are connected with services covering mental health, drug and alcohol use, employability, life skills, trauma recovery and wellbeing. Through partnerships such as the Melissus Project, they can also join arts and wellbeing activities and trauma-informed workshops that build confidence and independence.
- Shared risk management – at Stanley Grove, where residents have more complex needs and higher levels of risk, staff work with mental health teams, probation, Greater Manchester Police, Change Grow Live, primary care and pharmacy services, among others. Coordinated planning and regular communication mean partners can act fast when circumstances change.
- Advocacy and flexibility – staff advocate for residents, challenge barriers in the system and work with partners to find flexible solutions when standard pathways don’t fit.
The difference it’s making
Partnership working is helping residents get coordinated support, improve their wellbeing and move on successfully into longer-term homes.
At Victoria House, housing providers, support agencies and local services worked together to help the couple tackle alcohol dependency and rent arrears. Following individual assessments, partners helped them secure a two-bedroom home together, along with the practical resources they needed to settle in.
For Sanctuary, stronger partnerships have created more effective move-on pathways, improved access to specialist expertise and strengthened its ability to respond to complex needs. With fewer gaps between services, staff can focus on lasting outcomes rather than managing repeated crises.
Adam's story
Adam, whose name has been changed, had spent four years sleeping rough when he arrived at Victoria House. He was living with severe respiratory illness, leg ulcerations, hepatitis C, significantly reduced mobility and multiple drug and alcohol dependencies. He had experienced accidental overdoses, and the complexity of his needs put him at high risk of falling between services.
Victoria House staff brought together a network of partners, including Change Grow Live, New Bank Health Centre, Medichem Pharmacy, Manchester City Council and specialist homelessness services. Through coordinated planning and regular communication, they identified and tackled the barriers that had kept Adam from engaging, and helped him build trusting relationships with the professionals supporting him.
Adam completed treatment for hepatitis C, engaged consistently with drug and alcohol services and kept taking his prescribed medication. After concerns about accidental overdoses, partners introduced daily medication collection and regular welfare checks to keep him safe.
As things stabilised, referrals to Manchester City Council and support from a navigator, Housing First worker and Stepping Stones worker helped find him a suitable home. A phased move, supported by every agency involved, helped Adam settle into his own home while staying connected to health and support services.
With greater stability, Adam has reconnected with his daughter and begun rebuilding family relationships affected by years of homelessness.
More than a place to live
Sanctuary’s services beyond Manchester show what a stable home and the right support make possible.
At Tring Road in Aylesbury, Jason arrived after a period of housing instability, the loss of his grandfather and the breakdown of a significant relationship. Alongside help with budgeting, rent and benefits, encouragement from his Project Worker, Sagar, gave him the space to channel his experiences into songwriting. He has since written, produced and released his own music.
Jason said: “The difference between who I was when I arrived and who I am now is a complete 180. Supported housing has helped me put my life back together, and I wouldn’t be where I am today without the people who believed in me, especially Sagar, who has supported me in every way possible.”
Advice for other housing associations
- See the whole person – look beyond the part of someone’s needs your service is responsible for. No single agency can meet every need on its own.
- Invest in relationships early – clear points of contact, open communication and shared accountability, built before problems arise, make it easier to coordinate support and manage risk.
- Empower frontline teams – standard pathways won’t work for everyone. Give staff the confidence and authority to advocate for flexible, person-centred solutions.
- Treat move-on as part of the journey – early planning, coordinated transitions and practical resettlement support help people keep their tenancies, not just secure them.
- Collect shared outcome data from the start – Sanctuary plans to strengthen how it gathers outcome data and feedback from residents and partners. Building this in early gives a clearer picture of impact and strengthens the case for working this way.
Louise Denbigh, Local Service Manager at Victoria House, said: “For people experiencing homelessness, every new service, assessment or referral can mean having to explain their circumstances again and again. Strong partnerships can reduce that burden by making sure information is shared appropriately, support is coordinated, and people can focus on moving forward rather than constantly having to revisit their past.”
