The Blue Light Approach: Improving accommodation options for people with alcohol dependency and complex needs – Part One

This guidance has been developed to support local authorities, commissioners, housing providers, and partner agencies to improve accommodation options for people with severe alcohol dependency and complex needs. It builds on Alcohol Change UK’s Blue Light Approach, which focuses on dependent drinkers who are often excluded from support, repeatedly come into contact with public services, and whose needs are frequently unmet.

Without appropriate housing, dependent drinkers are highly unlikely to achieve greater stability or make progress towards recovery. They are among the most vulnerable people in society, yet often find themselves excluded from both mainstream housing and treatment. Their impact on services is disproportionate: high levels of hospital use, frequent contact with the criminal justice system, and repeated safeguarding concerns. Nationally, this group is estimated to cost public services billions each year, with individual annual costs frequently exceeding £50,000.

Despite this, provision is patchy and insufficient. Local strategies often overlook people with alcohol dependency, focusing instead on abstinence-based accommodation that only works for a small minority. The result is that many remain stuck in a cycle of homelessness, crisis, and escalating health and social care costs.

• Scale of need: An estimated 70,000 people in England and Wales are homeless with serious alcohol use disorders at any given time. Around 11% of dependent drinkers fall into this group.
• Costs and return on investment: Supportive housing has been shown internationally to reduce emergency service use, arrests, and hospital admissions, saving money as well as improving lives. UK estimates suggest annual costs of £60,000 per person for those with multiple complex needs, compared with significant savings when housing and support are provided.
• Barriers and stigma: Access is often blocked by rigid service rules, reputational judgements, or past behaviour. Low self-esteem, health complications, and lack of psychologically informed support make engagement harder. Stigma remains a major barrier at both strategic and frontline levels.
• Gaps in provision: Most areas lack a full spectrum of housing options. Facilities that accept ongoing drinking, Managed Alcohol Programmes, and residential care for people with alcohol-related cognitive impairment are scarce. Women, people leaving prison or hospital, and those with co-occurring mental health conditions often fall through the cracks.

• Develop a system, not just units of housing: People struggling with alcohol dependency need pathways into, through, and out of accommodation, with skilled support to prevent eviction or abandonment.
• Expand the range of options: Provision must include abstinent and non-abstinent housing, Housing First models, specialist facilities for women and people with cognitive impairment, and care homes able to manage alcohol use.
• Invest in workforce development: Housing and residential staff need training in substance use, safeguarding, trauma-informed care, and relevant legal frameworks.
• Challenge stigma: Local leaders must actively counter the idea that people with alcohol dependency are ‘choosing’ their situation, and ensure strategies reflect their complex realities.

Local partnerships are encouraged to use the audit tool within this report to:

• Assess local need and current provision.
• Map pathways from homelessness to appropriate housing and onward support.
• Identify and fill gaps, especially around non-abstinent options, Managed Alcohol Programmes, and specialist care.
• Build monitoring into commissioning, including outcomes on housing stability, health, offending, and cost reduction.
• Plan for funding opportunities: While current resources are limited, clear strategies will ensure areas can act quickly when new funding streams emerge.

Housing dependent drinkers with complex needs is both a moral imperative and a financial necessity. Meeting their needs will save lives, reduce pressures on health, social care, and criminal justice systems, and support safer, more resilient communities. This report provides both the evidence and the tools to start that process.

Accompanying this work is our Part Two report which is a practical guidance document for frontline practitioners. It focuses on housing law and the welfare benefits system, aiming to strengthen understanding and support professionals in helping people who are alcohol dependent to access and maintain secure, appropriate housing.

We are also pleased to make the recordings below freely available, with thanks to our project partners for allowing us to do so. The webinars are relevant to anyone who encounters dependent drinkers in their work.

1. Housing law in England and Wales for non-housing professionals - https://youtu.be/9W3idYSC9pI
2. Learning from systems in Westminster and Manchester - https://youtu.be/d8qnGTu2sUc
3. Implementing trauma informed approaches – https://youtu.be/pRANNUr-zj8
4. Safeguarding vulnerable dependent drinkers – using legal powers to protect high-risk drinkers – https://youtu.be/JhxAZRDm0Vs
5. The Home Ready Course - Learning from Carmarthenshire – https://youtu.be/OCr3yLdJAtw
6. The Housing First Model - https://youtu.be/tj6-T7mBjmU