Housing & Accommodation

  • Help the Aged launches 'Towards Common Ground' campaign
    • 02/05/2008: Help the Aged has launched its ‘Towards Common Ground’ campaign, challenging central and local governments to create ‘lifetime neighbourhoods’, which cater for the needs of people of all ages, including older people.
  • Boost for Extra Care Housing
    • Health and Care Minister Ivan Lewis has invited local authorities to bid for £80 million to build extra care housing that would allow older people and those with long-term conditions to live in a home of their own. People who are unable to continue to live in their own homes have traditionally had their choices limited to care homes creating a number of problems including a loss of autonomy and not having their own space. Extra Care Housing offers a real solution to these problems as it gives people a home of their own where wide ranges of care and support services are provided on site.
  • Lifetime Homes and Lifetime Neighbourhoods
    • The Government has published a new housing strategy for England to address the challenges of an ageing population. From 2013 all new homes should be built to the Lifetime Homes standard meaning that 16 key features including wider doors, improved design of bathrooms and staircases big enough to take stair lifts will be a feature of every new home. The take-up of this will be reviewed in 2010, with a view to bringing forward regulation if take-up in the private sector is not adequate. From 2011, all new social housing to be built to the 'Lifetime Homes' standards. Other proposals include a new drive with local planners and design experts to promote new 'age-friendly cities', a national rapid repair and adaptations service which will support a major expansion of handyman schemes across the country, a dedicated National Housing Advice and Information Service providing expert advice for older people and increased funding for Disabled Facilities Grants. ‘Lifetime Homes, Lifetime Neighbourhoods: A National Strategy for Housing In An Ageing Society’ can be see at www.communities.gov.uk  
  • Value of Supporting People Programme
    • The Supporting People programme funds support services in housing that help over a million people live independently at any one time. These include 800,000 older people, 40,000 single homeless people, 36,000 people with mental health problems and 8,000 women at risk of domestic violence. A report finds that the programme is more than paying for itself through the positive impact it is having on the lives of the most vulnerable people in society. The study by Cap Gemini finds that an investment of £1.55bn in the programme delivers £2.77bn net financial benefits – through reduced costs in health services, tenancy failure, crime and residential care. Research into the Financial Benefits of the Supporting People Programme, can be found at: www.communities.gov.uk/publications/housing/supportingpeoplefinance
  • British Standards Guidance for Lifetime Homes
  • Increased Funding for Adaptations
    • Communities Minister Baroness Andrews has announced increased funding for the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) as part of a package of measures designed to help people live independently in their own homes for longer. The support for DFG will increase by £25 million for 2008/09, a significant increase of 20 per cent, taking central Government funding to £146 million. The Government also announced plans to strengthen Home Improvement Agencies, the locally based not-for-profit organisations that help homeowners and tenants renting private housing repair and maintain their homes. See www.communities.gov.uk  
  • Moves to Accessible Housing in London
    • The Mayor of London has published two reports that aim to help increase the supply and choice of accessible homes available to disabled Londoners. The first report ‘Wheelchair accessible housing’ provides best practice guidance for planners and developers on designing wheelchair accessible homes as well as how to design new homes that are easily and cheaply adapted for the future needs of a wheelchair user. The second ‘Housing choice for disabled Londoners’ sets out what must be done by social landlords and other stakeholders to deliver London’s Accessible Housing Register to ensure that disabled and Deaf Londoners have information, access to and greater choice in housing that meets their specific needs. To download a copy of ‘Wheelchair Accessible Housing Best Practice Guidance’ go to http://staging.www.london.gov.uk/mayor/strategies/sds/bpg-wheelchair-acc-housing.jsp
      To download a copy of ‘Housing choice for disabled Londoners’ see http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/housing/key-documents.jsp
  • Opening the Door for People with Learning Disabilities
    • The Department of Health is providing £175million for Local Authorities and Primary Care Trusts to provide housing and appropriate day services for people with learning disabilities currently living in NHS properties. At least 1600 people who have a learning disability still live in NHS “campuses” without the opportunity to develop important social skills, or the freedom to make everyday decisions. The funding is intended to provide an alternative by 2010 and mark a final step away from state institutional accommodation for people with learning disabilities.
  • Landlords' Responses to the DDA
    • A report published by the Department for Work and Pensions explores landlords' awareness of and responses to the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA), looking particularly at issues relating to changes to policies and procedures and adjustments. This found a clear divide between the social landlords (local authorities and housing associations) and the private-sector sector (letting agents and private landlords) in terms of policy, experience, and practice. Social landlords had a good awareness of DDA legislation in general, although awareness of the duties for landlords was lower. There was very low awareness amongst the private-sector landlords of disability legislation, and little awareness of the new DDA duties for landlords. "Landlords' responses to the Disability Discrimination Act" is published in the DWP Research Report Series. A summary and copy of the report are available by calling 020 7962 8557 or on the DWP website www.dwp.gov.uk/asd/asd5