As a young person who has eligible, relevant or former relevant care leaver status with Southampton City Council, you will automatically be able to join the Southampton Housing Register. This does not mean that you will necessarily be ready to have your own tenancy at 18, and most young people remain living within their family or friends’ networks at this age. We will work with you to consider how to best support your housing needs. There are various options for your housing, and these will include:
Staying put
Young people in foster care are encouraged to “stay put” with their carers when they turn 18 years old. This arrangement allows you to remain with your foster carer until the age of 21 years old. You would then move to alternative accommodation at a later stage when you feel more ready.
Supported accommodation
We work with a range of different supported accommodation providers, where you can live “semi independently.” This means that you will have your own space in shared accommodation, but that there will be different levels of support available to you to help you get used to living in a different way.
Your Social Worker, or Personal Advisor will work with you to discuss the different options that are available to you and help plan what is right for you.
A social housing or council tenancy
Once you have reached the stage where we both agree that you can live independently and maintain a tenancy without risk of this being lost, you will have the option to apply to Southampton City Council for social housing (this is accommodation managed by the council). Our Care Leavers Service already has access to several available tenancies a year for our care leavers, and as a care leaver when you and your Personal Advisor think that you are ‘tenancy ready’, you will be given priority.
Your Personal Advisor will work with our housing services to support this transition to a social housing tenancy
If you live outside of Southampton, then we cannot award you priority status for another Local Authority. However, we will work with you and your local housing authority to ensure that they recognise your care leaver status, and we will advocate for you.
Return home to birth or extended family
If this is safe for you to do and this is a decision that you make, then we will support you to do this and work with your birth or extended family to make sure that you are ok and that the transition goes smoothly.
Working with you
We will work with you to look at your budget, help you consider what you can and cannot afford. We will work with you to ensure that you claim any entitlements that could support you to fund any part of your accommodation such as housing benefits, rent and deposit schemes etc.
Paying Council Tax
Care leavers living in Southampton do not pay Council Tax until they reach the age of 25.
If you do not live in the City, then we cannot make other local authorities exempt you from paying Council Tax, however we will talk to them to see if there is any council tax relief that you are entitled to as a care leaver living in their authority.
See our advice for moving out of home.