Accommodation and housing
West Sussex is a large county, made up of 7 district and boroughs. We support young people in each of these areas and we see each young person as an individual with individual needs. We provide support with accessing a wide range of accommodation options across the county in response to this. We will work hard to find the right housing for you at the right time and we will make sure you always have an option of somewhere to live while you are open to our Service.
The options available to you change when you reach 18 and we hope the following will help you understand what is available to you at each point of your journey. Understanding different types of housing and understanding what is and isn’t available to you can be very confusing – please remember, we are here to support you, just pick up the phone if you need support with anything!
16 to 17 year olds
When you are 16 and 17, you are a ‘Young Person We Care For’. This means your social worker will make sure you have somewhere to live. This is usually either in:
- foster care
- residential home
- residential placement
- supported housing
- supported lodgings
Wherever you are living, you will get help to prepare to live more independently. This help can involve:
- learning how to prepare and cook food
- cleaning and maintaining your home
- developing a routine for independent living
- managing your money and learning to prioritise
- understanding all aspects of managing a tenancy
From 16, you and your social worker will start planning where you would like to live when you are 18. Your personal advisor (PA) from the Leaving Care Service will support with planning as they start working with you at 17. A very important part of this planning will be a Care Leaver Joint Housing Planning Meeting. This is a meeting with our district and borough housing departments to discuss accommodation options open to you at and beyond 18.
18 to 25 year olds
The legal responsibility to provide housing for you changes at 18 and moves from West Sussex County Council to the housing departments in our district and boroughs. It is important to know this as it means we are not able to help in the same way before you turned 18.
We will, however, provide support and advice to you to find the accommodation that is right and will support you with this at least until your 21st Birthday.
We have a specialist Housing Support Worker in our service who works hard to ensure the young people we support have somewhere safe and secure to live.
Financial help with housing costs
See our Housing finance page to find out what help you can get with setting up and moving.