If you need somewhere to live in Coventry and renting a flat on the open market is not realistic right now, supported housing may be an option. This page explains what it is, without the jargon.
What supported housing is
It is somewhere to live that comes with help attached. You get your own room in a shared house, and support from someone whose job is to help you keep it.
It is not a hostel and it is not a care home. It is a normal house on a normal street. Our houses normally have between two and four bedrooms, so you are living with a small number of people rather than a crowd. You have your own room and you share the kitchen and bathroom.
It is usually meant to be temporary — somewhere to get stable before moving on to something more permanent.
Who it is for
- You are homeless, or about to be
- You are leaving prison with nowhere to go
- You are leaving hospital and cannot return to where you were
- You have left home because of domestic abuse
- You have had to leave Home Office asylum accommodation
- You are a care leaver living independently for the first time
- You are in recovery and need somewhere settled
- A relationship or family situation has broken down
Coventry’s homelessness service deals with around 120 enquiries a week, and at the end of September 2025 there were 1,229 households living in temporary accommodation in the city. Whatever brought you here, you are not unusual and you are not on your own with it.
What you get
Every one of our houses comes the same way, so there are no surprises:
- Your own room in a shared house of two to four bedrooms
- The house is fully furnished — you do not need to bring or buy furniture
- All bills are included. Gas, electricity and water are covered, so there is nothing to set up and no bills arriving in your name
- No deposit. There is nothing to find up front before you move in
- Someone to contact when something goes wrong with the house
- A named support worker, and out-of-hours contact if something happens at night or at the weekend
- A support plan worked out with you — not written about you
Coventry City Council sets standards that supported housing providers in the city are expected to meet. Among other things, those standards say you should meet someone face to face before you sign anything, that you should have a named safeguarding officer to go to, and that you should get a minimum of three hours of support a week. If that is not happening, you are entitled to say so.
What it costs
In most cases you will not be paying the rent out of your own pocket. Where a property comes with care, support or supervision, the rent is usually covered by Housing Benefit rather than the housing part of Universal Credit. In practice that usually means it is paid directly and you are not expected to find it each month.
There is a service charge, and the amount depends on the property. There is no deposit, so there is nothing to save up before you can move in. If money is the thing stopping you from asking, it should not be.
What is expected of you
- Treat the other people in the house decently. You do not have to like them. You do have to be civil.
- Keep the shared spaces reasonably clean.
- No violence, no threats, no dealing from the property.
- Engage with your support worker — answer the door, turn up.
- Tell us when something changes, so we can help rather than find out later.
Nobody expects you to get it all right immediately. If you are struggling, saying so early is the most useful thing you can do.
How to apply
The quickest way is to fill in the application form on our Tenants page. It takes a few minutes and you do not need to have anything prepared.
| APPLY FOR A ROOM
Fill in the application form on our Tenants page and we will come back to you. |
If you have a worker, they can do it for you. If you already have a support worker, probation officer, social worker, nurse or housing officer, they are welcome to get in touch on your behalf. That is often quicker, because they can send everything we need in one go.
If you are homeless right now. Contact Coventry City Council’s Homelessness Advice Service as well. They have a legal duty to help if you are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless within the next 56 days, and they will assess your situation and put together a Personal Housing Plan with you.
If you are aged 16 to 24, on your own or as a couple without children, the Coventry Youth Hub is the right place to start instead.
A last word
Asking for help with housing is not a failure. Most people who come to us are in the middle of something difficult that was not entirely of their making, and most move on to something settled.
Fill in the application form and we will come back to you. If someone is helping you look, they can contact us for you.
