In supported living services can the care operator also own the property?

In supported living, the separation between accommodation and care is deliberate. It’s what distinguishes supported living models from residential care models.

Every Local Authority in the UK is  moving away from residential care and towards supported living models of care, whenever possible.

In practical terms it means the care provider (delivering care and support services) and the Registered Provider (delivering housing management services) to a specific supported living service should be separate, independent, organisations.

However, that doesn’t mean that the care provider can’t own the property and outsource housing management to a regulated Registered provider, charity, or council body on an arm’s length commercial lease basis.

Many care providers own legacy properties that were originally operated as residential care services, but now, due to shifting council priorities, are being reconsidered as supported living. In these cases a third party RP is required to manage the housing services for tenants, to enable a shift to a valid supported living model.

There is good reason for this separation. If the same organisation that owns the property also delivers the care, then they may be compelled to make commercial property-driven decisions which would put the homes and tenures of individual tenants at risk.