This paper explores the complex process of hybridisation of third-sector housing and support organisations (TSOs) in Northern Ireland. The focus of the study is the policy field of housing-related support services, known in the UK as ‘Supporting People’. This is a hybrid policy field involving several government departments, a number of market mechanisms and two types of third-sector actors. The exercise of organisational agency to adapt to competing drivers is illuminated through mental health and homelessness case studies. The paper explores how competing external influences from the Northern Ireland Assembly, horizontal policies for the third-sector and vertical service commissioning policies interact with TSOs’ own adaptation strategies involving the deployment of robust third-sector identities. Hybridisation is found to involve not only the dominance of state drivers and the promotion of market mechanisms in both fields, but also enactment of third-sector identities. Our analysis of hybridization in this case counters Billis’ (2010) representation of third-sector identity as weak, in flux, and subject to erosion by focusing on the agency of TSOs to strategically adapt to and negotiate external drivers and thereby achieve competitive advantage. Through the enactment of identity in this adaptation process, resources such as legitimacy, charitable income and volunteers are secured. This provides opportunities for policy makers to add value if they are prepared to emphasise horizontal over vertical policy goals.

This article reports on a study exploring the accommodation experiences of older Gypsies and Travellers and how specialist Supporting People services can enhance their wellbeing and social inclusion. The findings suggest that through development of pro-active, culturally appropriate services, flexible, tailored support and joint working, these services have contributed to their users’ wellbeing. Cuts to Supporting People funding pose a serious threat, especially in the context of loss of other services and changes to accommodation policy under the banner of localism. Targeted funding to sustain these specialist services could be important to redress risks of further marginalisation of Gypsy/Traveller communities.