Supported and older persons' housing development survey 2025

Our annual survey on the development of supported and older person’s housing took place in June 2025. Through this annual research, we want to understand our members appetite for developing new homes year-on-year, as well as some of the key barriers they face delivering homes for the people who need them the most.  

Supported housing is a lifeline that helps more than half a million people in England to live independently in their communities. A supported home helps people live healthy lives at home, and specialist homes for older people help people live in a home environment that supports their health and adapts as they age. 

This year, our survey took place at a difficult time for housing providers, with supported housing facing a funding crisis after years of funding cuts. The survey results paint a complex picture, showing supported housing providers want to develop more homes but are threatened by the risk of service closure and decommissioning.  

What did we find out?  

1. Survey respondents were very concerned about funding for supported housing, which may cause schemes to close. 

The survey took place before the Spending Review, where we saw a large boost for building new social homes, but no additional funding for support services. Survey results showed that over half of respondents (54%) felt that, if no additional funding for supported housing was announced in the Spending Review, this could make it more likely they would have to close schemes. 

A reduction in support funding was also one of the top three reasons respondents said would contribute to the risk of schemes closing. The other top two factors were no uprating of funding for support costs to match inflation and the costs of National Insurance Contributions.    

3. There are significant barriers to developing more supported and older persons’ housing. 

The survey asked respondents to rate which barriers to developing homes were the most significant. The top reasons cited were capital grant funding being too low, building safety and decarbonisation costs being too high, Housing Benefit funding and local authorities decommissioning services.

How could the government break down these barriers and encourage development?

Our Save Our Supported Housing campaign has been calling on the government to commit to long-term and emergency funding to help schemes at risk of closure and allow providers to plan long-term development. To break down the barriers and unlock this development, we recommend that the government:

• Commits to long-term and increased funding for housing-related support, clearly identifiable in consolidated funding allocations.
• Provides help for local authorities and integrated care boards to plan for, fund and commission supported housing.
• Awards increased, more flexible grant funding to deliver supported housing through the Social and Affordable Homes Programme.
• Ensures that the long-term housing strategy and homeless strategy recognise the vital role of supported housing in the housing system.