Accommodation and support services for young people

The Thrive 16+ service offers housing related support and accommodation for children in care and care leavers. It also supports other young people who have no involvement with children’s social care but are homeless, eligible and reason to believe in priority need under homelessness legislation.

This service is for young people aged between 16 and 25.  The service can help with:

• Emergency accommodation if you are in a housing crisis and need accommodation at very short notice.
• Mediation  to help to rebuild connections with family where that is appropriate.
• A range of supported accommodation in Taunton, Minehead, Bridgwater, Frome, Street, Shepton Mallet and Yeovil. Generally, the accommodation will be laid out in such a way that you have your own bedroom but share other facilities with other young people as well as self-contained flats in some areas. Some of the accommodation is staffed 24 hours a day whilst some is generally unstaffed but with regular visits from support workers.
• Support in finding permanent housing, maintaining accommodation, helping with benefit claims, setting up utilities, managing money and more.
• Tenant Accreditation Scheme to help give young people the knowledge and skills they will need in order to live independently.
• Partnership working – close working relationships with colleagues in Children’s Social Care and other agencies (including services that can provide support with mental health, training and education, drug and alcohol misuse and so on).

This service is designed to prevent homelessness by providing targeted prevention measures. If prevention is not successful or possible, the service allows young people with housing and related support needs to progress along a pathway of outcome-focused needs-led provision. This is until they are able to return to the family home or sustain independent living without the need for support.

Our commitment is to provide young people with the right level of support, in the right place at the right time as well as a focus on supporting young people to make friends, build life-long networks and trusted relationships.

Type of provision

Universal - This is for everyone, including people with special educational needs and disabilities