Cornwall Council – Supported Housing Vacancy and Pipeline Tracker

Using Microsoft Power Apps, Cornwall built the digital property management application for vacancies and pipeline which enables real-time tracking of current and future supported housing stock. 

The apps are integrated with live Power BI dashboards, measure progress against strategic targets as set out in Cornwall’s Specialist and Supported Housing Strategy (S&SH Strategy), identify locality-specific needs, and highlight gaps in supply. Stakeholders, including internal teams and care providers, update vacancy statuses and match clients to appropriate placements. The project has significantly improved efficiency, reduced void costs, and enhanced referral quality.

• Priority area addressed: This centralised system brings together live information on supported housing units, vacancies, and development opportunities across the county. It replaces manual spreadsheets and siloed communication, improves matching between people and suitable properties, and reduces void costs. 
• Budget: The system used existing funding from Cornwall’s Digital Futures programme. The value for money case was supported by officer time savings, reduced void expenditure for providers due to improved higher quality referrals to suitable vacancies and improved strategic planning capability.
• Other resource needed: Apps were built internally by Cornwall’s digital team using Microsoft Power Apps and Power BI. 
• Timeframe to completion: Following the publication of the new S&SH Strategy in 2023, the Vacancy Tracker was created in 24/25. The Pipeline Tracker was launched in June 2025. The application is evolving and can be adapted based on new needs or requirements and the approach has recently been replicated across other service areas.

• Digital transition and improved efficiency – teams no longer need to rely on paper, Excel, and phone referrals which was a resource intensive way of working. 
• More successful referrals – the system allows a level of detail that supports better quality referrals and higher customer satisfaction.
• Streamlined communication – the applications streamline communication between council and providers, as well as between internal council teams. 
• Reduction in void costs – there are contractual obligations for providers to update vacancy information, which have eliminated the need for nomination rights and void payments underwritten by the Council, as social workers and purchasing teams can act immediately on upcoming vacancies.
• Improve tracking and monitoring of pipeline supply – the tracker supports Cornwall’s Supported and Specialist Housing Strategy 2023 – 2050, with a plan to deliver over 48,000 new supported housing units, by providing good oversight of existing supply and future need.

In 2023, Cornwall Council published their Supported and Specialist Housing Strategy 2023 – 2050, with a plan to deliver over 48,000 new supported housing units. With a population of around 575,000 and covering nearly 1,400 square miles, Cornwall currently has over 2,200 supported housing homes. Of these, 647 are commissioned by adult social care for working-age adults with eligible needs.

When the project began, Cornwall’s supported housing data was fragmented and inconsistent. Information on available units and vacancies was held in paper files, spreadsheets and individual officers’ knowledge and relationships. Operational officers (including social workers and purchasing teams) relied on “ring‑rounds” to find vacancies, while social workers submitting referrals to providers were made with limited information about properties often leading to properties being unsuitable or client’s needs not matching what was being offered at the property. Purchasing teams lacked visibility of upcoming voids, meaning opportunities were missed and referrals were delayed.

The council needed a system that could hold all supported housing property and information in one place, enable providers to update their own units to include relevant information e.g. floor plans, drone views, video walk throughs, photographs, description of the care and support offer available, and provide live views of vacancies. Cornwall also needed to manage a substantial pipeline of new supported housing schemes, aligned with the Supported Housing Strategy. Opportunities arriving from developers, providers and investors were overwhelming to track.

Using Microsoft Power Apps, Cornwall built the digital property management application for vacancies which enables real-time tracking of current and future supported housing, care homes and extra care stock. The apps are integrated with live Power BI dashboards measure progress against strategic targets, identify locality-specific needs, and highlight gaps in supply. Stakeholders – including internal teams and care providers – update vacancy statuses and match clients to appropriate homes.

A central, live register of supported housing units that shows:

• Property details (room sizes, floor plans, accessibility, amenities)
• GIS‑mapped location and proximity to transport
• Photos, floor plans, and descriptions uploaded by providers
• Upcoming vacancies and expected void dates
• Care provider information and service type
• Notes, visits, and engagement history
• Quality and compliance information.

Approved providers receive secure external access to upload and maintain their data about their vacancies. Automated alerts notify purchasing teams when vacancies are added. The platform allows an enhanced level of detail to support decisions about suitability of placements, as well as photos, videos and 3D tours.

The Supported Housing Pipeline Tracker was later developed, supporting the council to manage:

• New development opportunities
• Site evaluation and development stages
• Expected completion dates
• Conversion to “live” properties on the Vacancy Tracker once schemes open
• Consistent timelines and notes visible across teams
• Sharing opportunities across supported housing, extra care, homelessness, and young people’s provision.

This enables cross council strategic assessment of whether new opportunities meet future demand projections up to 2050.

Both apps integrate directly with bespoke Power BI dashboards showing:

• Live vacancies
• Geographical distribution of supply
• Pipeline trajectories against strategic need
• Conversion rates from enquiries to schemes
• Volumes of enquiries, active opportunities, and completed units
• Provider-level activity and performance.

Governance boards now receive these dashboards live in meetings, eliminating manually‑produced reports.

While originally designed for the working age adults commissioning team, the tool is adaptable for wider use across the Council. It supports oversight of quality and value for money by cataloguing property features, care costs, rental rates and provision. Built-in risk modelling and Artificial Intelligence (AI) summarisation functions enable targeted reviews and quality assurance.

The system has streamlined staff workloads, simplified referrals, and improved outcomes for both clients and providers. Referrals can be made using a higher level of information, to ensure the placement is suitable for the client. Providers are contractually obliged to keep the vacancy tracker up to date, enabling officers to act immediately eliminating the need for the Council to pay void costs or nomination rights. Stakeholders report that the tool offers clear, real-time insights into the local supported housing market, enhancing strategic planning and operational delivery.

Key outcomes include:

• Reduced void costs for accommodation providers
• Improved efficiency and time savings 
• More successful referrals 
• Better partnership working across teams and with providers
• Improved quality oversight 
• Live and efficient reporting for governance.

• Shared access to information has transformed joint working, removed duplication and improved efficiency in collaboration across teams such as strategic housing, working age adults, and other care teams by hosting information in one unified place.
• Access to live data reduces risk and improves visibility for decision making.
• Search functionality enables officers seeking a placement opportunity to search by location, property type and service area.
• The application code has potential to be reused and scaled in other areas of the council and has potential to be rolled out for other projects including day opportunities and social care projects. 
• The ability to interface with external suppliers is a significant benefit of the technology and could also be helpful in areas such as licensing and private sector enforcement.