Housing Support Grant (HSG) – Framework for Housing-Related Floating Support Services

120 units of floating support Floating Support Floating Support is a service that provides tailored, time-limited support to individuals residing in their own homes or in temporary accommodation. The service is designed to promote independence, prevent tenancy breakdown, and support individuals in managing various aspects of daily life. Support is not tied to a specific property and can be delivered flexibly, according to the individual's needs and circumstances. Key areas of support include, but not limited to: • Tenancy sustainment and housing-related advice • Budgeting, financial management, and benefit access • Accessing health, education, employment, and training services • Developing life skills such as cooking, cleaning, and personal organisation • Emotional support, goal setting and confidence-building The overarching aim is to empower individuals to live independently and engage positively within their communities. Support is personalised and aligned with individual needs, continuing until the individual is confident in managing independently. The Housing Support Grant (Housing Support Grant Guidance) The HSG is an early intervention grant programme to support activity, which prevents people from becoming homeless, stabilises their housing situation, or helps potentially homeless people to find and keep accommodation. The HSG does not fund the statutory duty on local authorities to prevent homelessness, instead HSG funded services augment, complement and support the statutory service to ensure that the overall offer authorities provide helps people into the right homes with the right support to succeed. It supports vulnerable people to address the, sometimes multiple, problems they face, such as debt, employment, tenancy management, substance misuse, violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence, and mental health issues. Support is person centred, aimed at supporting people to secure and maintain sustainable housing by addressing the mental health and substance misuse or other problems they face, helping to improve their health and well-being and/or helping them progress into, or nearer to, a job or training opportunity based on their specific circumstances. The HSG supports the aim of working together to prevent homelessness and where it cannot be prevented ensuring it is rare, brief and un-repeated. To do this we need to tackle the root cause of homelessness and work to enable people to stay in their own homes longer. Therefore the HSG seeks to secure “A Wales where nobody is homeless and everyone has a safe home where they can flourish and live a fulfilled, active and independent life”. The purpose of the HSG is to prevent homelessness and support people to have the capability, independence, skills and confidence to access and/or maintain a stable and suitable home. This should be achieved through: • Services that build the capacity and ability of individuals or households to maintain a home. • Services that prevent homelessness or the need for an individual to live in an inappropriate institutional setting. • Providing or enabling access to suitable housing for individuals or households. • Services that mitigate the impact of homelessness on individuals or households. • Brokering access to other services for people in housing need. • Raising awareness and understanding with other professionals and with the wider public, including in schools and colleges. All services should place the individual at the centre, working to their strengths and supporting them to achieve their aspirations. Services should be commissioned and delivered in a psychologically informed way, taking into account the impact of trauma on people who require support, to achieve a sustainable impact. This includes the five components of psychologically informed approaches: the psychological framework; relationships; staff support and training; evidence generating practice; and physical environment Housing support must be delivered in a way which enables the effective delivery of complementary public services by ensuring their impact is not undermined by unstable housing circumstances. For example, the impact of mental health services can be undermined by a chaotic lifestyle - stabilising an individual’s housing circumstance can improve the impact of that clinical 6 response. HSG will achieve this by adopting collaborative approaches to working with other functions and agencies Any person in need of support to prevent them becoming at risk of homelessness, to address homelessness or achieve a more stable housing circumstance is eligible to receive housing support, as long as they are eligible to receive help under the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 and the Allocation of Housing and Homelessness (Eligibility) (Wales) Regulations 2014, regardless of their tenure or lack of tenure. People exhibiting a need for HSG funded support may be a resident in, or receive a referral to a property within the private rented, social housing or owner-occupied sector. Wherever possible, services should be tenure neutral to ensure access to services is not determined by the housing circumstances of the household. Commissioners should ensure that they monitor tenure to ensure provision is balanced. • Services to enable access to housing for individuals or households, including help with accessing a tenancy and negotiating appropriate ‘occupation contract’ terms. • Services to help vulnerable people develop or maintain the skills and confidence necessary to live as independently as possible in a safe and suitable home. • Services to sustain a tenancy, such as mediation with landlords, preparation for managing a tenancy, housing-related support provided via group work or individually, and small sums for innovation where they are used with the person to enhance their ability to live more independently. • Services which seek to intervene early (prior to the statutory homelessness stage) to support households to sustain their tenancy or other right to occupy their home. • Services that improve the sustainability of the housing of an individual by tackling their social isolation and helping them play a full part in their community. • Initiatives which seek to ensure homelessness is brief and un-repeated, such as rapid re-housing and support approaches like Housing First. • Services that have good links with, and refer or signpost people to, services which provide opportunities for education, training, volunteering, and employment. • Action to enforce housing legislation, where the legislation supports access to safe and secure housing for people in need of support, including enforcement of RSW registration obligations on landlords. However, this should be limited to spend previously received under RSW grant funding. In addition, the HSG should not be used to fund the provision of enforcement activity or staff within enforcement teams – this should be funded from other sources Housing support services must be enabling and develop a person’s independence i.e. ‘doing with’ as distinct from ‘doing for’. The focus of the service should be to encourage and support the person to exercise personal choice and self-determination and accentuate their strengths, including preventing a person’s level of independence from reducing. Support packages must be developed and agreed collaboratively with the person who is using housing support services and any risks considered. Support offered can include short-term and direct interventions to prevent homelessness. Whilst there may be circumstances where the need for housing related support is ongoing, consideration should be given to the length of time a service is available, and whether some long-term support is actually care or creates dependency rather than creates independence. There are circumstances where a gradual loss of capacity is inevitable, in this context housing support has the purpose of maintaining the individual’s ability to exercise independent control of their housing rights.

30 units of floating support Floating Support Floating Support is a service that provides tailored, time-limited support to individuals residing in their own homes or in temporary accommodation. The service is designed to promote independence, prevent tenancy breakdown, and support individuals in managing various aspects of daily life. Support is not tied to a specific property and can be delivered flexibly, according to the individual's needs and circumstances. Key areas of support include, but not limited to: • Tenancy sustainment and housing-related advice • Budgeting, financial management, and benefit access • Accessing health, education, employment, and training services • Developing life skills such as cooking, cleaning, and personal organisation • Emotional support, goal setting and confidence-building The overarching aim is to empower individuals to live independently and engage positively within their communities. Support is personalised and aligned with individual needs, continuing until the individual is confident in managing independently. Target Group and Collaborative Approach: Support will be delivered to individuals aged 55 and over, with a focus on promoting independence and wellbeing. The service will operate in close collaboration with statutory agencies and other relevant organisations. This multi-agency approach ensures that each person receives a comprehensive, well-coordinated, and meaningful support package tailored to their specific needs and circumstances. The Housing Support Grant (Housing Support Grant Guidance) The HSG is an early intervention grant programme to support activity, which prevents people from becoming homeless, stabilises their housing situation, or helps potentially homeless people to find and keep accommodation. The HSG does not fund the statutory duty on local authorities to prevent homelessness, instead HSG funded services augment, complement and support the statutory service to ensure that the overall offer authorities provide helps people into the right homes with the right support to succeed. It supports vulnerable people to address the, sometimes multiple, problems they face, such as debt, employment, tenancy management, substance misuse, violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence, and mental health issues. Support is person centred, aimed at supporting people to secure and maintain sustainable housing by addressing the mental health and substance misuse or other problems they face, helping to improve their health and well-being and/or helping them progress into, or nearer to, a job or training opportunity based on their specific circumstances. The HSG supports the aim of working together to prevent homelessness and where it cannot be prevented ensuring it is rare, brief and un-repeated. To do this we need to tackle the root cause of homelessness and work to enable people to stay in their own homes longer. Therefore the HSG seeks to secure “A Wales where nobody is homeless and everyone has a safe home where they can flourish and live a fulfilled, active and independent life”. The purpose of the HSG is to prevent homelessness and support people to have the capability, independence, skills and confidence to access and/or maintain a stable and suitable home. This should be achieved through: • Services that build the capacity and ability of individuals or households to maintain a home. • Services that prevent homelessness or the need for an individual to live in an inappropriate institutional setting. • Providing or enabling access to suitable housing for individuals or households. • Services that mitigate the impact of homelessness on individuals or households. • Brokering access to other services for people in housing need. • Raising awareness and understanding with other professionals and with the wider public, including in schools and colleges. All services should place the individual at the centre, working to their strengths and supporting them to achieve their aspirations. Services should be commissioned and delivered in a psychologically informed way, taking into account the impact of trauma on people who require support, to achieve a sustainable impact. This includes the five components of psychologically informed approaches: the psychological framework; relationships; staff support and training; evidence generating practice; and physical environment Housing support must be delivered in a way which enables the effective delivery of complementary public services by ensuring their impact is not undermined by unstable housing circumstances. For example, the impact of mental health services can be undermined by a chaotic lifestyle - stabilising an individual’s housing circumstance can improve the impact of that clinical 6 response. HSG will achieve this by adopting collaborative approaches to working with other functions and agencies Any person in need of support to prevent them becoming at risk of homelessness, to address homelessness or achieve a more stable housing circumstance is eligible to receive housing support, as long as they are eligible to receive help under the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 and the Allocation of Housing and Homelessness (Eligibility) (Wales) Regulations 2014, regardless of their tenure or lack of tenure. People exhibiting a need for HSG funded support may be a resident in, or receive a referral to a property within the private rented, social housing or owner-occupied sector. Wherever possible, services should be tenure neutral to ensure access to services is not determined by the housing circumstances of the household. Commissioners should ensure that they monitor tenure to ensure provision is balanced. • Services to enable access to housing for individuals or households, including help with accessing a tenancy and negotiating appropriate ‘occupation contract’ terms. • Services to help vulnerable people develop or maintain the skills and confidence necessary to live as independently as possible in a safe and suitable home. • Services to sustain a tenancy, such as mediation with landlords, preparation for managing a tenancy, housing-related support provided via group work or individually, and small sums for innovation where they are used with the person to enhance their ability to live more independently. • Services which seek to intervene early (prior to the statutory homelessness stage) to support households to sustain their tenancy or other right to occupy their home. • Services that improve the sustainability of the housing of an individual by tackling their social isolation and helping them play a full part in their community. • Initiatives which seek to ensure homelessness is brief and un-repeated, such as rapid re-housing and support approaches like Housing First. • Services that have good links with, and refer or signpost people to, services which provide opportunities for education, training, volunteering, and employment. • Action to enforce housing legislation, where the legislation supports access to safe and secure housing for people in need of support, including enforcement of RSW registration obligations on landlords. However, this should be limited to spend previously received under RSW grant funding. In addition, the HSG should not be used to fund the provision of enforcement activity or staff within enforcement teams – this should be funded from other sources Housing support services must be enabling and develop a person’s independence i.e. ‘doing with’ as distinct from ‘doing for’. The focus of the service should be to encourage and support the person to exercise personal choice and self-determination and accentuate their strengths, including preventing a person’s level of independence from reducing. Support packages must be developed and agreed collaboratively with the person who is using housing support services and any risks considered. Support offered can include short-term and direct interventions to prevent homelessness. Whilst there may be circumstances where the need for housing related support is ongoing, consideration should be given to the length of time a service is available, and whether some long-term support is actually care or creates dependency rather than creates independence. There are circumstances where a gradual loss of capacity is inevitable, in this context housing support has the purpose of maintaining the individual’s ability to exercise independent control of their housing rights.

10 units of floating support Floating Support Floating Support is a service that provides tailored, time-limited support to individuals residing in their own homes or in temporary accommodation. The service is designed to promote independence, prevent tenancy breakdown, and support individuals in managing various aspects of daily life. Support is not tied to a specific property and can be delivered flexibly, according to the individual's needs and circumstances. Key areas of support include, but not limited to: • Tenancy sustainment and housing-related advice • Budgeting, financial management, and benefit access • Accessing health, education, employment, and training services • Developing life skills such as cooking, cleaning, and personal organisation • Emotional support, goal setting and confidence-building The overarching aim is to empower individuals to live independently and engage positively within their communities. Support is personalised and aligned with individual needs, continuing until the individual is confident in managing independently. Target Group and Collaborative Approach: Support will be delivered to individuals aged 16 - 25, with a focus on promoting independence and wellbeing. The service will operate in close collaboration with statutory agencies and other relevant organisations. This multi-agency approach ensures that each person receives a comprehensive, well-coordinated, and meaningful support package tailored to their specific needs and circumstances. The Housing Support Grant (Housing Support Grant Guidance) The HSG is an early intervention grant programme to support activity, which prevents people from becoming homeless, stabilises their housing situation, or helps potentially homeless people to find and keep accommodation. The HSG does not fund the statutory duty on local authorities to prevent homelessness, instead HSG funded services augment, complement and support the statutory service to ensure that the overall offer authorities provide helps people into the right homes with the right support to succeed. It supports vulnerable people to address the, sometimes multiple, problems they face, such as debt, employment, tenancy management, substance misuse, violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence, and mental health issues. Support is person centred, aimed at supporting people to secure and maintain sustainable housing by addressing the mental health and substance misuse or other problems they face, helping to improve their health and well-being and/or helping them progress into, or nearer to, a job or training opportunity based on their specific circumstances. The HSG supports the aim of working together to prevent homelessness and where it cannot be prevented ensuring it is rare, brief and un-repeated. To do this we need to tackle the root cause of homelessness and work to enable people to stay in their own homes longer. Therefore the HSG seeks to secure “A Wales where nobody is homeless and everyone has a safe home where they can flourish and live a fulfilled, active and independent life”. The purpose of the HSG is to prevent homelessness and support people to have the capability, independence, skills and confidence to access and/or maintain a stable and suitable home. This should be achieved through: • Services that build the capacity and ability of individuals or households to maintain a home. • Services that prevent homelessness or the need for an individual to live in an inappropriate institutional setting. • Providing or enabling access to suitable housing for individuals or households. • Services that mitigate the impact of homelessness on individuals or households. • Brokering access to other services for people in housing need. • Raising awareness and understanding with other professionals and with the wider public, including in schools and colleges. All services should place the individual at the centre, working to their strengths and supporting them to achieve their aspirations. Services should be commissioned and delivered in a psychologically informed way, taking into account the impact of trauma on people who require support, to achieve a sustainable impact. This includes the five components of psychologically informed approaches: the psychological framework; relationships; staff support and training; evidence generating practice; and physical environment Housing support must be delivered in a way which enables the effective delivery of complementary public services by ensuring their impact is not undermined by unstable housing circumstances. For example, the impact of mental health services can be undermined by a chaotic lifestyle - stabilising an individual’s housing circumstance can improve the impact of that clinical 6 response. HSG will achieve this by adopting collaborative approaches to working with other functions and agencies Any person in need of support to prevent them becoming at risk of homelessness, to address homelessness or achieve a more stable housing circumstance is eligible to receive housing support, as long as they are eligible to receive help under the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 and the Allocation of Housing and Homelessness (Eligibility) (Wales) Regulations 2014, regardless of their tenure or lack of tenure. People exhibiting a need for HSG funded support may be a resident in, or receive a referral to a property within the private rented, social housing or owner-occupied sector. Wherever possible, services should be tenure neutral to ensure access to services is not determined by the housing circumstances of the household. Commissioners should ensure that they monitor tenure to ensure provision is balanced. • Services to enable access to housing for individuals or households, including help with accessing a tenancy and negotiating appropriate ‘occupation contract’ terms. • Services to help vulnerable people develop or maintain the skills and confidence necessary to live as independently as possible in a safe and suitable home. • Services to sustain a tenancy, such as mediation with landlords, preparation for managing a tenancy, housing-related support provided via group work or individually, and small sums for innovation where they are used with the person to enhance their ability to live more independently. • Services which seek to intervene early (prior to the statutory homelessness stage) to support households to sustain their tenancy or other right to occupy their home. • Services that improve the sustainability of the housing of an individual by tackling their social isolation and helping them play a full part in their community. • Initiatives which seek to ensure homelessness is brief and un-repeated, such as rapid re-housing and support approaches like Housing First. • Services that have good links with, and refer or signpost people to, services which provide opportunities for education, training, volunteering, and employment. • Action to enforce housing legislation, where the legislation supports access to safe and secure housing for people in need of support, including enforcement of RSW registration obligations on landlords. However, this should be limited to spend previously received under RSW grant funding. In addition, the HSG should not be used to fund the provision of enforcement activity or staff within enforcement teams – this should be funded from other sources Housing support services must be enabling and develop a person’s independence i.e. ‘doing with’ as distinct from ‘doing for’. The focus of the service should be to encourage and support the person to exercise personal choice and self-determination and accentuate their strengths, including preventing a person’s level of independence from reducing. Support packages must be developed and agreed collaboratively with the person who is using housing support services and any risks considered. Support offered can include short-term and direct interventions to prevent homelessness. Whilst there may be circumstances where the need for housing related support is ongoing, consideration should be given to the length of time a service is available, and whether some long-term support is actually care or creates dependency rather than creates independence. There are circumstances where a gradual loss of capacity is inevitable, in this context housing support has the purpose of maintaining the individual’s ability to exercise independent control of their housing rights.

20 units of floating support Floating Support Floating Support is a service that provides tailored, time-limited support to individuals residing in their own homes or in temporary accommodation. The service is designed to promote independence, prevent tenancy breakdown, and support individuals in managing various aspects of daily life. Support is not tied to a specific property and can be delivered flexibly, according to the individual's needs and circumstances. Key areas of support include, but not limited to: • Tenancy sustainment and housing-related advice • Budgeting, financial management, and benefit access • Accessing health, education, employment, and training services • Developing life skills such as cooking, cleaning, and personal organisation • Emotional support, goal setting and confidence-building The overarching aim is to empower individuals to live independently and engage positively within their communities. Support is personalised and aligned with individual needs, continuing until the individual is confident in managing independently. Target Group and Collaborative Approach: Support will be delivered to individuals upon release from prison or ex-offenders, with a focus on promoting independence and wellbeing. The service will operate in close collaboration with statutory agencies and other relevant organisations. This multi-agency approach ensures that each person receives a comprehensive, well-coordinated, and meaningful support package tailored to their specific needs and circumstances. The Housing Support Grant (Housing Support Grant Guidance) The HSG is an early intervention grant programme to support activity, which prevents people from becoming homeless, stabilises their housing situation, or helps potentially homeless people to find and keep accommodation. The HSG does not fund the statutory duty on local authorities to prevent homelessness, instead HSG funded services augment, complement and support the statutory service to ensure that the overall offer authorities provide helps people into the right homes with the right support to succeed. It supports vulnerable people to address the, sometimes multiple, problems they face, such as debt, employment, tenancy management, substance misuse, violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence, and mental health issues. Support is person centred, aimed at supporting people to secure and maintain sustainable housing by addressing the mental health and substance misuse or other problems they face, helping to improve their health and well-being and/or helping them progress into, or nearer to, a job or training opportunity based on their specific circumstances. The HSG supports the aim of working together to prevent homelessness and where it cannot be prevented ensuring it is rare, brief and un-repeated. To do this we need to tackle the root cause of homelessness and work to enable people to stay in their own homes longer. Therefore the HSG seeks to secure “A Wales where nobody is homeless and everyone has a safe home where they can flourish and live a fulfilled, active and independent life”. The purpose of the HSG is to prevent homelessness and support people to have the capability, independence, skills and confidence to access and/or maintain a stable and suitable home. This should be achieved through: • Services that build the capacity and ability of individuals or households to maintain a home. • Services that prevent homelessness or the need for an individual to live in an inappropriate institutional setting. • Providing or enabling access to suitable housing for individuals or households. • Services that mitigate the impact of homelessness on individuals or households. • Brokering access to other services for people in housing need. • Raising awareness and understanding with other professionals and with the wider public, including in schools and colleges. All services should place the individual at the centre, working to their strengths and supporting them to achieve their aspirations. Services should be commissioned and delivered in a psychologically informed way, taking into account the impact of trauma on people who require support, to achieve a sustainable impact. This includes the five components of psychologically informed approaches: the psychological framework; relationships; staff support and training; evidence generating practice; and physical environment Housing support must be delivered in a way which enables the effective delivery of complementary public services by ensuring their impact is not undermined by unstable housing circumstances. For example, the impact of mental health services can be undermined by a chaotic lifestyle - stabilising an individual’s housing circumstance can improve the impact of that clinical 6 response. HSG will achieve this by adopting collaborative approaches to working with other functions and agencies Any person in need of support to prevent them becoming at risk of homelessness, to address homelessness or achieve a more stable housing circumstance is eligible to receive housing support, as long as they are eligible to receive help under the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 and the Allocation of Housing and Homelessness (Eligibility) (Wales) Regulations 2014, regardless of their tenure or lack of tenure. People exhibiting a need for HSG funded support may be a resident in, or receive a referral to a property within the private rented, social housing or owner-occupied sector. Wherever possible, services should be tenure neutral to ensure access to services is not determined by the housing circumstances of the household. Commissioners should ensure that they monitor tenure to ensure provision is balanced. • Services to enable access to housing for individuals or households, including help with accessing a tenancy and negotiating appropriate ‘occupation contract’ terms. • Services to help vulnerable people develop or maintain the skills and confidence necessary to live as independently as possible in a safe and suitable home. • Services to sustain a tenancy, such as mediation with landlords, preparation for managing a tenancy, housing-related support provided via group work or individually, and small sums for innovation where they are used with the person to enhance their ability to live more independently. • Services which seek to intervene early (prior to the statutory homelessness stage) to support households to sustain their tenancy or other right to occupy their home. • Services that improve the sustainability of the housing of an individual by tackling their social isolation and helping them play a full part in their community. • Initiatives which seek to ensure homelessness is brief and un-repeated, such as rapid re-housing and support approaches like Housing First. • Services that have good links with, and refer or signpost people to, services which provide opportunities for education, training, volunteering, and employment. • Action to enforce housing legislation, where the legislation supports access to safe and secure housing for people in need of support, including enforcement of RSW registration obligations on landlords. However, this should be limited to spend previously received under RSW grant funding. In addition, the HSG should not be used to fund the provision of enforcement activity or staff within enforcement teams – this should be funded from other sources Housing support services must be enabling and develop a person’s independence i.e. ‘doing with’ as distinct from ‘doing for’. The focus of the service should be to encourage and support the person to exercise personal choice and self-determination and accentuate their strengths, including preventing a person’s level of independence from reducing. Support packages must be developed and agreed collaboratively with the person who is using housing support services and any risks considered. Support offered can include short-term and direct interventions to prevent homelessness. Whilst there may be circumstances where the need for housing related support is ongoing, consideration should be given to the length of time a service is available, and whether some long-term support is actually care or creates dependency rather than creates independence. There are circumstances where a gradual loss of capacity is inevitable, in this context housing support has the purpose of maintaining the individual’s ability to exercise independent control of their housing rights.

15 units of floating support Floating Support Floating Support is a service that provides tailored, time-limited support to individuals residing in their own homes or in temporary accommodation. The service is designed to promote independence, prevent tenancy breakdown, and support individuals in managing various aspects of daily life. Support is not tied to a specific property and can be delivered flexibly, according to the individual's needs and circumstances. Key areas of support include, but not limited to: • Tenancy sustainment and housing-related advice • Budgeting, financial management, and benefit access • Accessing health, education, employment, and training services • Developing life skills such as cooking, cleaning, and personal organisation • Emotional support, goal setting and confidence-building The overarching aim is to empower individuals to live independently and engage positively within their communities. Support is personalised and aligned with individual needs, continuing until the individual is confident in managing independently. Target Group and Collaborative Approach: Support will be delivered to individuals who need support with substance misuse, with a focus on promoting independence and wellbeing. The service will operate in close collaboration with statutory agencies and other relevant organisations. This multi-agency approach ensures that each person receives a comprehensive, well-coordinated, and meaningful support package tailored to their specific needs and circumstances. The Housing Support Grant (Housing Support Grant Guidance) The HSG is an early intervention grant programme to support activity, which prevents people from becoming homeless, stabilises their housing situation, or helps potentially homeless people to find and keep accommodation. The HSG does not fund the statutory duty on local authorities to prevent homelessness, instead HSG funded services augment, complement and support the statutory service to ensure that the overall offer authorities provide helps people into the right homes with the right support to succeed. It supports vulnerable people to address the, sometimes multiple, problems they face, such as debt, employment, tenancy management, substance misuse, violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence, and mental health issues. Support is person centred, aimed at supporting people to secure and maintain sustainable housing by addressing the mental health and substance misuse or other problems they face, helping to improve their health and well-being and/or helping them progress into, or nearer to, a job or training opportunity based on their specific circumstances. The HSG supports the aim of working together to prevent homelessness and where it cannot be prevented ensuring it is rare, brief and un-repeated. To do this we need to tackle the root cause of homelessness and work to enable people to stay in their own homes longer. Therefore the HSG seeks to secure “A Wales where nobody is homeless and everyone has a safe home where they can flourish and live a fulfilled, active and independent life”. The purpose of the HSG is to prevent homelessness and support people to have the capability, independence, skills and confidence to access and/or maintain a stable and suitable home. This should be achieved through: • Services that build the capacity and ability of individuals or households to maintain a home. • Services that prevent homelessness or the need for an individual to live in an inappropriate institutional setting. • Providing or enabling access to suitable housing for individuals or households. • Services that mitigate the impact of homelessness on individuals or households. • Brokering access to other services for people in housing need. • Raising awareness and understanding with other professionals and with the wider public, including in schools and colleges. All services should place the individual at the centre, working to their strengths and supporting them to achieve their aspirations. Services should be commissioned and delivered in a psychologically informed way, taking into account the impact of trauma on people who require support, to achieve a sustainable impact. This includes the five components of psychologically informed approaches: the psychological framework; relationships; staff support and training; evidence generating practice; and physical environment Housing support must be delivered in a way which enables the effective delivery of complementary public services by ensuring their impact is not undermined by unstable housing circumstances. For example, the impact of mental health services can be undermined by a chaotic lifestyle - stabilising an individual’s housing circumstance can improve the impact of that clinical 6 response. HSG will achieve this by adopting collaborative approaches to working with other functions and agencies Any person in need of support to prevent them becoming at risk of homelessness, to address homelessness or achieve a more stable housing circumstance is eligible to receive housing support, as long as they are eligible to receive help under the Housing (Wales) Act 2014 and the Allocation of Housing and Homelessness (Eligibility) (Wales) Regulations 2014, regardless of their tenure or lack of tenure. People exhibiting a need for HSG funded support may be a resident in, or receive a referral to a property within the private rented, social housing or owner-occupied sector. Wherever possible, services should be tenure neutral to ensure access to services is not determined by the housing circumstances of the household. Commissioners should ensure that they monitor tenure to ensure provision is balanced. • Services to enable access to housing for individuals or households, including help with accessing a tenancy and negotiating appropriate ‘occupation contract’ terms. • Services to help vulnerable people develop or maintain the skills and confidence necessary to live as independently as possible in a safe and suitable home. • Services to sustain a tenancy, such as mediation with landlords, preparation for managing a tenancy, housing-related support provided via group work or individually, and small sums for innovation where they are used with the person to enhance their ability to live more independently. • Services which seek to intervene early (prior to the statutory homelessness stage) to support households to sustain their tenancy or other right to occupy their home. • Services that improve the sustainability of the housing of an individual by tackling their social isolation and helping them play a full part in their community. • Initiatives which seek to ensure homelessness is brief and un-repeated, such as rapid re-housing and support approaches like Housing First. • Services that have good links with, and refer or signpost people to, services which provide opportunities for education, training, volunteering, and employment. • Action to enforce housing legislation, where the legislation supports access to safe and secure housing for people in need of support, including enforcement of RSW registration obligations on landlords. However, this should be limited to spend previously received under RSW grant funding. In addition, the HSG should not be used to fund the provision of enforcement activity or staff within enforcement teams – this should be funded from other sources Housing support services must be enabling and develop a person’s independence i.e. ‘doing with’ as distinct from ‘doing for’. The focus of the service should be to encourage and support the person to exercise personal choice and self-determination and accentuate their strengths, including preventing a person’s level of independence from reducing. Support packages must be developed and agreed collaboratively with the person who is using housing support services and any risks considered. Support offered can include short-term and direct interventions to prevent homelessness. Whilst there may be circumstances where the need for housing related support is ongoing, consideration should be given to the length of time a service is available, and whether some long-term support is actually care or creates dependency rather than creates independence. There are circumstances where a gradual loss of capacity is inevitable, in this context housing support has the purpose of maintaining the individual’s ability to exercise independent control of their housing rights.