Last autumn, Reside Housing Association joined Progress Housing Group, creating one of the leading providers of high-quality supported living accommodation in the UK for people with a learning disability and/or autism, and also for those with other support needs such as acquired brain injury or enduring mental health conditions.

We want to share Christopher's story with you, about how Reside has supported him:

Reside’s tenant Christopher, aged 38, has Down’s Syndrome and autism.

After years of disrupted living in care homes and hospitals, he now has his own home and a dedicated support team, thanks to a programme called Transforming Care.

Christopher lives near Sunderland in a detached bungalow and has been there for two years. He likes his home: “It’s alright!” he says. He’s also a big fan of Sunderland AFC.

When he was 12, Christopher was moved out of his family home and spent the next 14 years living in a series of care homes and hospital settings.

Unfortunately, they were all unsuccessful at dealing with his needs. His mum Sandra found it particularly difficult watching Christopher being moved around.

She says: “He couldn’t stay with us because it put both myself and my younger daughter at risk.

But the last hospital he ended up in was 30 miles away from me, and he was there for six years.”

Keen to help Christopher find somewhere more permanent to live, the hospital he was staying in worked with a specialist support provider called Orbis. Thanks to funding provided by the National Health Service England (NHSE) Transforming Care programme, Christopher finally moved into his own home in July 2019.

“Orbis has been fantastic. Orbis said they could manage him, and that’s when Reside came into the picture,” explains Sandra. “Reside bought the house and made it ‘Christopher-safe’.”

She continues: “With Reside on board to purchase and adapt the property, it has been a winning combination.

It’s great that Christopher now has his own house, his own staff and that continuity. It’s been a real success as far as I’m concerned.”

You can find out more about how Reside is involved with the NHSE Transforming Care programme here: Housing solutions with Transforming Care | Reside (residehousing.com)