Helping People Make Informed Decisions About Where They Live

Choosing where you live, and your support is a big life decision. To make this process easier and less overwhelming, we held an event that included people who are looking for housing and support, along with their families, for a session about future housing options.

The session was run jointly by Optalis and Wokingham Borough Council and brought together staff from adult services, housing and support teams. This meant people could get clear information in one place and speak directly to the teams who can help.

During the session, people learned about what supported living is, the different types of support available, how tenancies and licence agreements work, and what housing opportunities are coming up. Everything was explained in a clear and easy to understand way.

Colin, who is supported by Optalis, shared his story about moving into his own home, and Tracey, talked about her experience of supporting her daughter to move into her own place. Their stories helped show what is possible and helped people understand what to expect.
The event also gave people time to ask questions and meet other people who are also looking for housing.

The aim was to create a friendly space where people planning to move could meet other people in the same situation, helping to make future moves smoother and supporting people to find the right home and potentially the right housemate for them.

The people who attended found the session “really helpful”, with one attendee saying, “It’s helped paint a picture in my head of what it could be like."

There are plans to run more events like this, but before we do, we are going to run the session again with self-advocacy group, CLASP. We will be inviting CLASP members to share their views about the session content, to make sure it is useful and accessible to all.