Resources for Students’ Unions
Care-experienced and estranged students (CEES) experience disproportionately high levels of housing insecurity, affecting their access to higher education, wellbeing, retention and success.
The Unite Foundation Blueprint for a #HomeAtUniversity details how accommodation measures can underpin student retention and success. Structured around eight interconnected ‘rooms’, it provides a actionable insight to create housing stability that improves outcomes for care-experienced and estranged students.
This suite of resources equips you to take that action.
Students’ Unions are uniquely placed to drive change. They can amplify student voice, influence institutional decision-making, and translate lived experience into practical improvements for both current and future students. The Blueprint acknowledges that influence, and gives officers a clear framework to champion these students conversations with accommodation teams, university leaders and decision-making bodies.
The resources take officers through five stages: Understand, Explore, Act, Share and Sustain. Starting with foundational knowledge of the Blueprint, officers are guided to assess their own university’s provision, plan and deliver improvements, share progress with the wider sector, and ensure momentum continues through effective handover and succession.
Together, these materials create a continuous cycle of learning, action and improvement. By equipping Students’ Union Officers and staff with the knowledge, tools and continuity needed to champion the Blueprint, the sector can deliver lasting, systemic improvements that create greater housing stability for care-experienced and estranged students.
Our vision is simple: a sector where care-experienced and estranged students do not have to worry about where they will live because a stable #HomeAtUniversity is a given, not a privilege.
Join a movement of Students’ Union Officers and staff committed to turning that vision into reality. Explore the Blueprint, start conversations on your campus, and take action to create lasting change for care-experienced and estranged students.
This is just the beginning. Explore the five stages below to build your knowledge and drive change at your institution, register your interest to access the Audit Workbook and Action Planner, and join us at our Webinar on 7th October 2026 to discover how your Students’ Union can turn the Blueprint into action.
Register Interest
Register your interest to access Blueprint resources, stay up to date with future events and opportunities, connect with peers across the sector, and help shape the future of this work.
Register InterestWebinar Registration
Join colleagues from Students’ Unions and universities to explore practical resources that support lasting change for care-experienced and estranged students, both now and in the years ahead.
Webinar Signup1. Understand
Understand the foundations of the Blueprint and its vision for tackling housing inequality for Care Experienced and Estranged Students (CEES). Through a collection of explainer documents covering each of the eight Blueprint Rooms, this stage introduces the key concepts, evidence and interconnected elements that make up the Blueprint as a system of change.
Core Explainers:
Build your understanding of the Blueprint and the experiences of care-experienced and estranged students. These resources provide the essential foundations for all Blueprint activity.
Explainer: Blueprint for a #HomeAtUniversity
DownloadExplainer: Care-Experienced and Estranged Students
DownloadMisc. Explainers:
Additional guidance and context to help you apply the Blueprint within your own institutional environment, including universities with different accommodation models and structures.
Explainer: Who Gets to Advocate?
DownloadExplainer: Myths Vs Reality
DownloadExplainer: No Accommodation?
DownloadExplainer: Guidance for Small SU’s
Coming SoonResource: PowerPoint for Small SU’s
Coming SoonDownload All
Get the full collection of explainers in a single ZIP folder, enabling you to explore all of the available materials and build your understanding of the Blueprint at your own pace.
Explainer Bundle
Download All2. Explore
Explore how the Blueprint translates into practice within your own university. Using the Accommodation Audit Workbook, this stage helps officers contextualise their learning, assess existing approaches to accommodation, and identify opportunities to improve outcomes for Care Experienced and Estranged Students (CEES).
Blueprint Audit Workbook:
Assess your university’s current provision against the Blueprint’s eight rooms and identify opportunities for improvement.
Access: To receive the Audit Workbook, register your interest in participating in Blueprint activity and a copy will be emailed to you. You only need to register once to receive both the Audit Workbook and the Action Planner.
Resource: Audit Workbook
Register for Resource3. Act
Act on the opportunities identified through your learning and exploration. Through the Blueprint Action Planner, this stage enables officers to plan, implement and monitor meaningful changes, helping to embed the Blueprint and improve outcomes for Care Experienced and Estranged Students (CEES).
Blueprint Action Planner:
Turn insights into action with a practical planning tool designed to help you prioritise, implement and track Blueprint-related activity at your Students’ Union.
Access: To receive the Action Planner, register your interest in participating in Blueprint activity and a copy will be emailed to you. You only need to register once to receive both the Audit Workbook and the Action Planner.
Resource: Action Planner
Register for Resource5. Sustain
Sustain the momentum of Blueprint delivery by embedding learning and ensuring continuity beyond individual officer terms. Through the Blueprint Handover Document, this stage supports officers to capture progress, share key knowledge, and pass work on effectively, helping to ensure that efforts to improve outcomes for Care Experienced and Estranged Students (CEES) remain cumulative and sustainable.
Officer Handover Document:
Capture progress, key relationships and next steps to ensure Blueprint work continues smoothly between officer teams and remains cumulative over time.
Launching in 2027. Watch this space.
Return to the Blueprint