About SILS Supported Housing

All the housing we provide is self contained with no shared facilities (e.g. each flat has its own kitchen bathroom etc). Some of our housing stock is owned by private landlords and managed by us.

Support is normally provided during the day. Support to deal with an emergency is also provided during evenings and weekends. Some schemes have a live in warden service.

Housing related support is planned by our Service Users with advice from other professionals in their lives.

Examples of housing related support tasks are:

• Help with setting up a home
• Developing domestic skills
• Help with managing money
• Menu planning and support with shopping
• Advice and support with repair work
• Emotional support and guidance
• Developing social activities and skills
• Developing personal safety and security
• Being included in the community, cultural and religious places
• Resettlement Support (help to move on)

About Resettlement
When Service Users have confidence in their independent living skills, SILS provides a resettlement service. This is to help them to move on to more appropriate housing that may not be owned or managed by SILS.

We provide this support to our own tenants but also to other Service Users who need to move. Resettlement support includes:

• developing skills
• finding a housing option
• applying for housing
• help with contacting agencies
• saving money to move
• arranging the move
• settling in to a new home
• and ongoing support in some cases

About Joe

Life for Joe is pretty good now . Joe Coulson is 32 years and moved into a flat of his own two and a half years ago. Joe, who has a learning disability, now also has a job and a social life. This means a new-found independence that had not been available to him before. Joe used to live at home with his mother, before moving into a residential home, where he stayed for four years. Joe was then referred to SILS.

“I was not especially happy where I was living,” said Joe. “I had to put up with other people’s noise and their ways of living and I have to be back [at home] at certain times and go to bed at set times.”

Joe was taught a range of skills, including how to shop for himself, how to manage his own money and to budget, how to cook, to do his laundry, safety in the home, catching a bus, using the local library and much more.
“I worked hard towards my goal of living independently. I began to feel I had some control of my life and my confidence grew and grew,” said Joe.

When Joe was ready, his SILS support team helped him find a flat of his own in Newton Abbot.
“It felt strange moving in,” explains Joe. “I did not know where everything was. My mum stayed the first night and the next night on my own was scary!”
“The support staff are fantastic. My confidence has grown and I have continued to learn and add to my skills. I pay my rent and bills by myself and with support look after my flat, cook and do my laundry. I run my own disco at the local club and go out and socialise when I want to” said Joe.

The Adult Training Unit also helped Joe get voluntary work with a local waste recycling company. Now Joe receives a salary for his work there and no longer receives income support.
“I now have a girlfriend, enjoy socialising and visiting places by myself. I go on the bus to Brixham to visit my dad and I go shopping in Torquay and Paignton. Life is pretty good now - I wish I’d done this a long time ago!