Funds To Improve Housing For People With Learning Disabilities

People with learning disabilities will benefit from £25 million of funding to help them live more independently in their own homes. The fund aims to improve their quality of life by giving them independence, and helping them feel more included in their local community. The successful bids of the £25 million housing and technology fund have been announced by Health Minister David Mowat. The local authority projects will focus on adapting existing housing, creating new accommodation and giving people support so they have more independence and choice. Read more on the Department of Health website.

Radical Package Of Measures Announced To Tackle Homelessness

A radical new package of measures to help tackle homelessness and ensure there is a strong safety net in place for the most vulnerable people in society has been announced by Communities Minister Marcus Jones. This includes:

·         maintaining and protecting homelessness prevention funding for local authorities

·         increasing central government funding for homelessness programmes

·         a commitment to work with homelessness organisations to prevent more people from becoming homeless

·         £40 million from the Department of Health to refurbish hostels

·         £30 million extra to councils to give them more control and flexibility over homelessness budgets

·         a £5 million fund to the 25 local authorities facing the greatest homelessness pressures

Read more on the CLG website.

Sheltered Housing and Hotels to Be Converted For Homeless Youths

Sheltered housing schemes and disused hostels are to be converted into accommodation for young homeless people as part of a new £41.5m scheme to be funded by the Department of Health (DoH). The programme, which is made up of £40m from the DoH and £1.5m from the CLG, will be split between two projects. Part will go to the Platform for Life programme, which will award capital funding to housing associations, councils and private sector developers that bid to convert unsuitable sheltered housing, commercial premises such as disused hotels, or family hostels into homelessness accommodation. The second share of the £41.5m will go to a new round of the Homelessness Change hostel upgrade scheme and will focus on improving health outcomes. There is no fixed split of the shared £41.5m fund, so bids will be considered on their individual merits. Allocations must be spent by March 2016. Read more on Inside Housing.

New Housing to Help Older and Disabled People to Live Independently

Building projects up and down the country have been given the green light to start producing homes that will support older and disabled people to live independently for as long as possible, Care and Support Minister Norman Lamb has announced.  Last year the government asked local authorities to bid for a share of £300m to boost the supported housing market. The Department of Health has now allocated funding to build more than 3,500 new homes.  As part of the first phase of the Care and Support Specialised Housing scheme, the Department will now issue around £101m of this fund to the HCA, which will work with 86 successful agencies to build more than 3,000 new homes across the country. Projects are estimated to create over 1,000 new jobs. Read more on the HCA website.

Bidding on £300m Pot for Independent Living Begins

Bidding is now open for up to £240m of capital funding aiming to widen the housing options for older people and adults with disabilities, by delivering thousands of new affordable and market sale homes.  The Care and Support Specialised Housing Fund marks the first time that the HCA - which will be administering the Fund - has run such a programme on behalf of the Department of Health.  The Fund is split into two phases, focusing on affordable housing in Phase One, and market sale homes in a later second phase and run over five years from 2013/14.   The Fund calls for innovation in developing housing opportunities, asking local authorities, and developers to work collaboratively with health providers to identify the best local solutions.  This may well include using local authority land or existing health facilities to work with the fund to achieve the best value results can be achieved between, housing health, care and support.  Read more on the HCA website.

Homelessness Costs Government 'Millions'

Councils in England spend nearly £345 million on homelessness a year, a CLG paper reveals.  Local authorities spend around £100 million on temporary accommodation and £70 million on homelessness prevention, according to 2010/11 forms English councils returned to CLG on housing services revenue.  The department has highlighted the costs of homelessness in an evidence review which is a basis for further research and analysis on the financial cost of homelessness.  It also points to a Department of Health 2010 study that suggests the cost of homelessness to the NHS is £64 million a year, with homeless people 3.2 times more likely than the general population to be an inpatient admission.  Although, it notes, the health figures only cover hospital admissions and accident emergency attendances which are ‘likely to represent only a small fraction of the total costs to health services’.  Download a copy of the review from the CLG website.