Supported Lodgings Scheme in Wokingham Borough - Information for Young People

Supported Lodgings are for 16 and 17 year olds who cannot live at home but are not yet ready to live completely independently. 

 

A lot of people who leave home at this age find themselves needing at least a bit of help.  Such young people have a number of options depending on how much support they need. Some may feel that they need to be looked after by the local authority, some may prefer to live in a supported hostel, others feel that they can live in a shared house as long as there is someone available during office hours to sort out any problems with bills, etc. Supported Lodgings may be another option. The rest of this leaflet will answer some of your questions. 

 

If you would like to find out more about Supported Lodgings, telephone: 0118 979 3008.

 

 

The aim of Supported Lodgings is to give you time to get used to living away from home before you live completely by yourself. We will help you build up your confidence and improve the practical skills that you will need when you move on e.g. handling money, shopping and cooking on a low budget. You may also need some help with your career choices. You may need to talk about the reasons you had to leave home and how you feel about them.

 

Often young people simply need a break from their own families and we can offer help to improve relationships and make it easier to return home. In Supported Lodgings there will always be someone to listen to you if you want to talk. This may be your carer or Social Worker or we can help you to find someone else to talk to if you prefer.

 

You will live as an adult member of the household, you will rent a room and you may have your own front door key. The carer is not responsible for you like a parent or a foster parent would be. They are there to encourage you to become more independent and to offer to help if you need it. There will be some rules you have to keep to and these are agreed in a written agreement. Your social worker will see you regularly throughout your time in Supported Lodgings and will help you to settle into your accommodation.

 

 

You can stay in Supported Lodgings for as long as it is agreed between you and the carer/s and you are fulfilling your placement agreement. If people cannot return home they usually remain in Supported Lodgings until they are 18 and have finished school/college.

 

 

We recruit local people to offer accommodation to young people. The Accommodation Worker checks the accommodation, interviews the household and requests references including police checks. The people who are approved to provide this type of accommodation know how hard it can be for young people and have chosen specifically to rent their room to a young person who has had to leave home or care. We hope that as you get to know your carer/s you will feel able to ask for and accept their friendship and advice.

 

 

Yes if the circumstances allow. The Accommodation Worker will take you to meet the carer/s and to look at the accommodation. Both you and the carer/s will have a few days to think it over. If everybody is interested in proceeding then the Accommodation Worker will take you to meet them again. At this second meeting the paperwork will be completed and a move in date will be arranged.

 

 

Whenever you move to somewhere new it will take time to settle in. Your Social Worker will be around to help you.  If there are difficulties, the important thing is to say something before the situation gets too bad. If you have tried to deal with the problem by talking to your carer/s and it hasn't worked out we will try and sort it out.

 

 

Some people will return home quite quickly. For those who stay for a longer period, at the end of your stay in Supported Lodgings you should feel confident about budgeting your income, providing yourself with a healthy diet, paying bills on time, keeping up with rent repayments and about what you need to do to follow your chosen career path.

 

Social Services will help you to find, move on and settle into more independent living. Nobody can say that they are truly independent - we all need to get advice or call on people to help us out now and then.  What is important is that you know where to get the help or advice if you need it, and that you feel OK about asking for it.