Housing and care review

Wednesday November 18, 2009

Plans to change the way housing support and home care are provided have been broadly welcomed by H&F’s elderly and disabled residents.

The council is proposing to extend the service provided by sheltered housing scheme managers to all vulnerable residents who need support, including those living in their own homes.

It is also proposing to combine this service with home care for those people entitled to both, so that these residents get a better, more joined-up service.

A 12-week consultation with elderly and disabled residents has shown 84% of people broadly support the changes.

“We currently have 1,400 residents living in 37 sheltered housing schemes, 60 percent of whom are not frail and do not need additional housing support,” says council leader, Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh. “It means these sheltered housing residents have to pay for a service they do not want or use.

“On the other hand, we have 16,000 who do not live in sheltered housing who are currently not entitled to the extra housing support sheltered scheme residents get. That does not make sense and I am very pleased that local people have largely supported the move to extend the service to more people.”

There were some objections from sheltered housing residents who fear they may lose out, although many people in sheltered housing recognise that changes for them will bring benefits for other people.

Cllr Greenhalgh has sought to assuage their fears saying: “We will be asking the landlords to enhance their scheme management and keep a familiar face on site wherever possible. This does not, therefore, necessarily mean sheltered scheme wardens will be moved out of their current premises, only that housing support will be extended to help more of the people who need it most.”

Councils across the country are making similar changes as a result of the government introducing ‘personalised budgets’ where each service user has control over how their care budgets are spent, choosing their own service providers, rather than having to ‘get what they are given’ by the council.

“This is a move we support,” adds Cllr Greenhalgh. “It puts control back in the hands of the service users rather than council staff. But it means we have to retender the contracts we currently have to make sure people have more choice about who comes into their home to help them, when they come, and what they actually do while they are there.”