ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at care and supported housing in its historical context using path dependency as a framework. The “Poor Law” was the earliest attempt to provide support to the poor and vulnerable. Some “vulnerable” people had been able to work to support themselves but the increase in the use of technology and other social changes caused by the new industries such as new working hours and the breakdown of local/rural communities largely dispensed with the labour of elderly males. The care and support sector continued to develop throughout the 1980s partly due to the campaign for supported living for people with learning disabilities and disability rights movement. In contrast with short-term services, this is the area where the government made the least contentious proposals. These are services for people requiring long-term support, e.g. some older people with chronic conditions, people with learning disabilities and/or mental health problems or people with physical disabilities requiring highly specialised support.
