The previous chapter considered the relationship between people and their homes. But of course people's lives reach outside their houses and are partly played out in the neighbourhood around them. The apocryphal estate agent's mantra that the three most important factors in a house are ‘location, location and location’ highlights that houses are in part used as staging posts for our life outside. People leave their house to earn money, to use local facilities such as shops and doctors’ surgeries, and to visit leisure and recreational facilities such as restaurants and bars. In Chapter Two it was shown that social relations are an important element of well-being and it is in the neighbourhood that people meet and many social interactions take place. Therefore, the neighbourhood is an important locale for social relations, which are vital for individual well-being, and so should be incorporated in the well-being framework used to evaluate supported housing.

The chapter considers the changing nature of neighbourhoods and reviews the proposition that neighbourhood is less important to people than it used to be, with a decline in a sense of community. The approach in the chapter is similar to the previous discussion of homes in that it uses the concept of affordance. It is assumed that people have a meaningful relationship with the neighbourhood as a place, as well as using it in a practical way. In other words, the neighbourhood affords many uses, which have both practical and meaning elements that should be considered together. The chapter examines the changing pattern of neighbourhoods and the growing segregation that is occurring. A key question concerns the impact of segregation on the lives of vulnerable people. Do disadvantaged people want to live close to others like themselves or are they forced into this by factors outside their control? How does segregation change the affordances of neighbourhoods for people in need of support and what impact does this have on their well-being? The focus is on the implications of these factors for the role and form of supported housing. Do particular forms of supported housing help or hinder integration with the neighbourhood and social relations within it? In other words, does supported housing afford a full range of neighbourhood uses?