Wardens Call to Deputy PM

Sheltered housing residents have written to the deputy prime minister asking him to bring back live-in wardens throughout the country. Campaign group Sheltered Housing UK wrote to Nick Clegg following a pre-election interview with Inside Housing in which he said residents should be able to vote on whether to keep a live-in warden. Before the election, he said ‘lots of people who move into sheltered housing do expect a 24-hour warden’. ‘I rather like the idea Help the Aged has come up with about putting changes to warden services to a vote of affected residents,’ Mr Clegg added. ‘That’s the kind of good practice I hope more housing associations and councils will use.’ The group has not yet received a reply from Mr Clegg. Read more on Inside Housing.

Sheltered Residents: ‘Bring Wardens Back’

Almost all sheltered housing residents would not have moved into their home if they had thought there was any threat to its resident warden service, a survey has found. Sheltered Housing UK, which represents sheltered housing residents and carried out the poll, found all the people surveyed thought a site-specific warden was necessary. The poll, which canvassed around 300 people, found 91 per cent of respondents said they would not have moved in if they had known the service would be dropped. Read more of this story on Inside Housing or see the full results of the survey in a one-page summary on the Sheltered Housing UK website.