Moving on from Supported Housing

This page provides you with useful information and links to help you with your move from Supported Housing.

What are my move on options?

There is a severe shortage of social housing properties in the Breckland Council area.  It is therefore important that you look for private rented accommodation alongside your application to the council, this includes a room to rent in a shared house.  Your support or key worker will be able to help you. 

Where can I find information on private rented accommodation?

Adverts for accommodation can be found in local letting agents, local newspapers, on notice boards in local supermarkets and shops and local Facebook pages.  The internet is by far the biggest medium for adverts and these can be accessed by using one of the common search engines to view results including:

• Property to rent - Gumtree (opens new window)
• Property to let - Right Move (opens new window)
• Houses and flats for rent - PrimeLocation (opens new window)
• Property to rent from Private Landlords - OpenRent (opens new window)
• Find rooms to rent, flatshare or rooms for rent with Roomgo (opens new window)
• SpareRoom for flatshare, house share, flat share & rooms for rent (opens new window)

The Housing Team at Breckland Council will expect to receive updates on how your search for accommodation is going, so please keep a record of properties you have tried to secure for yourself.

How much can I afford to pay for private rented accommodation?

Please use the following link to access the website entitledto. This is a benefits checker which will confirm whether you are eligible to claim any benefits and thus potentially maximise your income:

• Check benefits on Entitled to (opens new window) 

Once you have completed the above benefits checker, you can either download the results or have these emailed to you.   Please keep these safe as a housing officer will ask to see these so we can assess your financial circumstances and determine how much is affordable for you when seeking accommodation.

Below is a link to a website that will tell you how much Local Housing Allowance (housing benefit) could be paid to cover your rent.

This will depend on the amount of income you have, but it will give you an idea of the maximum benefit that can be paid. 

• Local Housing Allowance rates by postcode: DirectGov (opens new window)

Can the Council help me with a deposit or rent in advance?

The council may be able to help you with a loan for you to pay the deposit or rent in advance.  This will be by way of an interest free loan, which you will pay back to the council at an amount that is affordable to you.

You must not pay any money to the landlord or agent to secure a property, the housing team will liaise with the landlord or agent directly. 

Once we have done the relevant checks on the property and landlord and we are satisfied that we are able to help you to pay the deposit or rent in advance, the council will pay the relevant amount of money to the landlord or agent.  We will not pay agency fees, reservation or holding deposits.

The housing team can provide you with a letter to give to the landlord or agent which will explain what documents we need before the council can release any funds.

Does the accommodation need to be in the Breckland area?

The accommodation does not have to be in the Breckland area and we can help you with a loan for a deposit or rent in advance if the property is outside of the Breckland area.

Useful information regarding move on from supported housing can be found on the Shelter England website. (opens new window)

Complete the Breckland Housing advice form