Government announcement on supported housing funding: good news

The Government has today confirmed that housing benefit will be kept in place "for all those living in supported housing".
Director of Housing, Ian Gilders commented: "We welcome this news and we are glad that Government has listened to concerns over their proposals raised by Advance and many others."
The previous proposal was to give councils control of funding short-term accommodation, such as; transitional or step-down services for mental health, women's refuges and homelessness shelters. Many charities and housing providers opposed this because of concern that the ring fence on the grants would be eroded and the cash would be diverted to fund other council services. Today's announcement will provide greater stability for existing customers and schemes, as well as some reassurance in planning new supported housing.
Ian added: "We note the Government's intention to develop a "robust oversight regime" to ensure quality and value for money in the supported housing sector. We will continue to engage in this process and will seek to ensure any such regime is balanced, proportionate and is genuinely about value and not cost cutting."
The Government's full response can be found here https://bit.ly/2OVa3oQ