A new statutory duty under the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023 requires Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council to produce and publish a local supported housing strategy by April 2027, with the council contributing £5,641 towards a shared needs assessment across Kent.
Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council’s Housing and Planning Scrutiny Select Committee was updated on 13 October 2026 on the council’s legal obligation to produce a Supported Housing Strategy by April 2027, following the passage of the Supported Housing (Regulatory Oversight) Act 2023.
What the law requires
The Act places a statutory duty on every local housing authority in England to review supported exempt accommodation in its area and, in light of that review, formulate and publish a local supported housing strategy. The strategy must assess current availability of supported exempt accommodation and the likely need for it over the following five years. It must then be reviewed and renewed at least every five years.
The report presented to the committee stated that failure to have a strategy in place by the deadline could lead to government intervention and would represent a reputational risk for the council.
Joint approach across West Kent
Kent local authorities have worked together through the Kent Housing Group to commission AECOMM to undertake a Supported Housing Needs Assessment. Work under way or planned includes collection of data on existing supported housing accommodation, consultation with providers and service users, and supply mapping, demand modelling and gap analysis covering a five-to-ten-year period.
The needs assessment is due to be completed by November 2026. The report said an initial discussion between the four West Kent local authorities — Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council, Maidstone Borough Council, Sevenoaks District Council and Tunbridge Wells Borough Council — has favoured developing a joint West Kent strategy, an approach described in the report as encouraged by government guidance, given that supported housing needs are often met across wider areas than a single borough.
The council is currently considering the timetable for member approval of the strategy alongside confirming the approach to writing it.
Funding
New burdens funding of £62,220 has been provided nationally to implement the requirements of the Act. The report stated that Tonbridge & Malling’s contribution to the consultant’s costs for the needs assessment is £5,641, with the funding described as sufficient to cover both the needs assessment and the cost of writing the strategy itself.
The council had not published the minutes of the meeting at the time of writing, so the committee’s decision is not yet on the public record.
Sources
- Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council — Housing and Planning Scrutiny Select Committee, 13 October 2026 (agenda and papers)
- Supported Housing Strategy — report to Housing and Planning Scrutiny Select Committee (Tonbridge & Malling Borough Council, 13 October 2026)
Top image: illustrative, computer-generated. Illustrative AI-generated image. This is not a photograph of any real supported housing scheme in Tonbridge & Malling or elsewhere.