A HOUSING group is at the centre of a £12m supported housing programme for young parents.

Tees Valley Housing Group (TVHG) hopes the scheme will help single parents including Caroline Jones, 17, from Hartlepool.

Caroline, a full-time student with a four-year-old daughter, spent a year living at TVHG's supported housing scheme in St Paul's Road and is now renting a TVHG property elsewhere in the town. She is one of many young parents to receive help from a floating support scheme while attempting to live independently.

The scheme, partly funded by the Housing Corporation, will pay for 19 similar schemes across the North-East and Yorkshire.