I think the sensible solution is not to throw our hands up in despair and concede defeat, but to recognise that social care models are changing and that tri-partite agreements are now the norm in most areas. The regulations never really caught up with the reality after the THB scheme ended in April 2003.
Most people in the business would recognise a supported housing scheme when they see one, and it shouldn't be beyond a good draftsman to modify the regulations.
If we take what is in my area the largest (and probably most expensive) client group living in supported tenancies, the learning disabled, the thrust of Goverment policy for that group is to promote wider access to tenancies. Valuing People Now, PSA 16, NI 145 - all set targets and expect results. With this expectation comes a cost, which is why looking at high rents in isolation (without comparing global costs to NHS accommodation, residential or nursing care homes) is misleading.
If the 'de minimis' issue is the only battle ground left, my view is that there's too much at stake for people not to use it. Most landlords will directly provide, or have an SLA with another body, for some form of enhanced housing management in any case. If tenancies become usustainable due to cost and key policy drivers are telling us not to rely on traditional more 'insitutional' forms of care, imagine the numbers of vulnerable people turning up at housing departments to register as homeless.
Surely that would carry a heavy cost, and not all of it would be purely financial...
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