Neglect And Abuse Claims On Rise In Sheltered Housing

More than 30,000 allegations of abuse and neglect concerning sheltered housing residents were received by UK councils between 1 April 2014 and 1 November 2017. The data, which was obtained by File on 4, also found the number of reports increased by 30% over the period. The BBC sent Freedom of Information requests to every council or health and social care trust in the UK, seeking the numbers of safeguarding alerts they had received about residents of sheltered housing and supported living schemes. Just under half supplied data, which revealed that during the period covered, a total of 30,785 safeguarding alerts were received, of which the majority were in England. Read more on the BBC website.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-42708762

Government Considers Separate Rates For Extra Care And Sheltered Housing

The government is considering separate rates for sheltered housing and extra care, sector sources have been told, as the new funding model for supported housing begins to take shape.  The government announced last week that it plans for long-term supported housing to be funded through the benefit system, with a ‘sheltered rent’ used to set rates. But representatives from the supported housing sector said civil servants have told them the government will consider changing the recently announced policy to include one band for sheltered housing and one for extra care. Read more on Inside Housing.

Solar Power Deal Will Lower Social Tenants' Energy Bills

Solar panels are to be installed in 800,000 low-income homes across England and Wales over the next five years, as part of a new government scheme. The Dutch firm, Maas Capital, is investing £160m in the project. The panels, which will be free to tenants, are expected to cut hundreds of pounds from energy bills, according to the UK firm Solarplicity. The first people to benefit from the scheme include residents of a sheltered retirement home in Ealing, west London. Read more on the BBC.

Older People To Get Help To Downsize

Theresa May’s government will use its flagship housing strategy to make it easier for older people to move into smaller homes, which could free up larger properties for families. A policy to incentivise more good-quality, new-build sheltered accommodation will be included in a white paper, which also aims to break the dominance of a limited number of large housebuilders. Councils, housing associations and smaller developers will be encouraged to build more as the government sets out how it plans to meet a target of 1m new homes by 2020. Read more on the Guardian website.

Housing Benefit: Sheltered Housing – Parliamentary Written Answer

Steve McCabe:  To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans he has to exempt sheltered housing tenants from the housing benefit cap.

Caroline Nokes: The Secretary of State announced in a Written Ministerial Statement on 15 September 2016 that we would be deferring the application of Local Housing Allowance Rates in the social sector for supported housing which includes sheltered housing until 2019/20. At this point we will bring in a new funding model which will ensure that the sector continues to be funded at current levels, taking into account the effect of Government policy on social sector rents. The Secretary of State also announced that a formal consultation would be published shortly.

The Government Has Left Older People's Sheltered Housing In Limbo

Anxiety around the government’s proposal to cap housing benefit for tenants in sheltered housing has been growing ever since it was mooted, almost a year ago. The announcement on 15 September by the work and pensions secretary Damian Green did nothing to quell those fears. Indeed, older people and providers of specialist housing are now faced with an even longer period of uncertainty. Possibly the most shocking thing about the lengthy statement is the fact that it managed to omit any mention at all of older people. Read the full statement on the Parliament website.

Sheltered Housing Developments 'Shelved Due To Benefit Cuts'

Hundreds of planned new sheltered accommodation units have been delayed or scrapped owing to proposed cuts to housing benefit. Several housing associations have said they are no longer financially viable. The flats, for the elderly or people with learning disabilities, are more expensive to build and run because they provide additional support. Ministers say they are reviewing the sheltered housing sector "to ensure it works in the best way possible". The National Housing Federation has calculated that nearly 2,500 units have so far been scrapped or delayed as sheltered housing providers face losing an average of £68 a week per tenant. Read more on the BBC website.

Housing At Risk For More Than 400,000 Vulnerable People

Ninety-five percent of supported housing providers would be forced to close housing schemes for vulnerable and older people if a planned housing benefit cap goes ahead. The capping of housing benefit at local housing allowance levels for social housing tenants, announced in the chancellor’s spending review, represents a major threat to the financial viability of such schemes because the intensive housing management required is paid for by charging higher rents. These rents are covered by housing benefit for those residents unable to work. More than 440,000 vulnerable people, many of them pensioners, live in housing association homes that are now at risk across England. These include sheltered housing and extra care for frail elderly people, and supported housing schemes for people recovering from alcohol and substance misuse, young people leaving care and women fleeing domestic violence. Read more on the Guardian website.

Update On Local Housing Allowance Caps On Social Housing Rents

David Orr wrote to Lord Freud and Brandon Lewis seeking urgent clarification on how supported and sheltered schemes will be protected, and pressing for long-term security. He stated that we would like to see the cap only applied to working age tenants in general needs housing, with provision for some highly vulnerable younger people to be excluded from the under 35s shared accommodation rate.

Lord Freud, Minister of State for Welfare Reform, has responded stating that:

‘the exact formation of this policy is currently under development. We will of course carefully consider comments regarding supported housing schemes, along with findings from the supported accommodation review that the Department has jointly commissioned with the CLG which looks at the size and scope of the supported housing sector. The results of this research will guide our consideration for future policy development.’ Read more on the NHF website.

Tories Kill Sheltered Housing & Landlords Don’t Even Notice!

Sheltered housing is dead due to Conservative housing benefit policy and social landlords haven’t even noticed this cataclysmic change to their business! Housing benefit in the social rented sector will be capped at the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rate is the Conservative policy and the current average 1 bed sheltered housing property has a rent of £136.98 and the 1 bed LHA rate in Liverpool is £90.90 per week. The pensioner would therefore need to top up their rent from their state pension by £46.08 per week which is £2400 per year! The same situation will happen in most of England (though not London) and in Scotland and Wales as this change is a housing benefit policy and therefore GB wide. Read more on the Speye blog.

Residents And Landlords Need Flexibility On Tenancies

If plans to scrap lifetime tenancies for new social housing tenants go ahead, landlords must be given the flexibility to support different tenants in different areas. It is vital that decisions about how fixed term tenancies are used can be made locally.  A strength of the current voluntary system is that it has allowed individual landlords to consider local circumstances and to use fixed terms to work towards a variety of different objectives in different areas. If the government is going to make the use of fixed terms mandatory, it is essential that it does so in a way that retains as much local flexibility as possible. This should also include some local flexibility to identify exceptions as, undoubtedly, there will be occasions where it is simply much more appropriate to continue using lifetime tenancies. For example, this might help to make downsizing into sheltered housing a more attractive option for some. Read more on the CIH 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.

Social Housing and Branding – Never Knowingly Sold Anyone?

Social housing provides the best quality rented housing option over the PRS, the best quality service and the best price and is hugely in demand (waiting lists) YET bizarrely it is portrayed as the housing of last resort and vilified.  In no other industry would the best product and best service all at the best price have such a woeful reputation. In no other industry would it be ALLOWED to happen…Yet that is what HAS happened to the social housing model – and regrettably the people who have allowed that to happen are the people who work within social housing and because they have never SOLD social housing. Social housing has NEVER BEEN SOLD let alone undersold.  There is also not one single body or agency to do this as CIH does not do this, NHF look after the 60% of social landlords who are HAs and a myriad of others lobby for parts of social housing; EROSH for sheltered housing, SITRA et al for supported housing and Shelter and Crisis and Homeless Link etc for homelessness. Read more on the Speye blog.

Sheltered Housing Group Ups Age Criteria

A housing association is planning to restrict its sheltered housing schemes to people over the retirement age in a bid to make the stock more attractive to prospective tenants. Housing & Care 21, which owns and manages around 18,000 homes for older people across England, has taken the unusual step of raising the age eligibility of its sheltered schemes from 55 to retirement age (currently 65 for men and 62 for women) from September. Bruce Moore, chief executive of the association, said the organisation was finding it hard to let its sheltered housing because the 55-plus age range was too broad, so prospective tenants would not expect to ‘share the same outlook on life’ with their neighbours. Read more on Inside Housing.

Social Landlord Defends Asian Housing Priority after Outcry

Social landlord Orbit Housing has been accused of discrimination after apparently giving priority to Asian people at one of its housing schemes. Online ads for one-bed sheltered flats at the housing association's Apni Haweli development in Chatham stated "Please note priority will be given to Asian communities" and "Preference given to asian (sic) applicants". The ads saw angry locals flock to social media to vent their fury. However, in a statement, Orbit said that it is "committed to providing homes to people from all communities and backgrounds to best meet their needs" and that it appreciated that "people from different cultures have different requirements and therefore we have certain schemes that provide services to best match these." Read more on 24dash.

Council Selling Sheltered Housing Land

A local authority is selling off the land under sheltered housing in the city as part of a £40 million asset sale aimed at bolstering its budget. The sell-off from Newcastle council includes the ‘reversionary interests’ of three sheltered housing schemes. Purchasers of such interests take over the freehold of land when existing leases expire. Mark Lloyd, head of strategic property at Newcastle, said current leaseholders were getting first dibs on the sheltered housing asset sales. ‘We always approach the leaseholder to see if they want to buy’.  Read more on Inside Housing.

Care Minister Warns Of Sheltered Housing 'Market Failure'

Norman Lamb has warned of a ‘market failure’ in developing sheltered housing for elderly people.  He said there were very few ‘players in the market’ willing to develop specialised housing for older people despite ‘burgeoning demand’. ‘There appears to be a sort of market failure at the moment,’ Mr Lamb said.  ‘[There are] very few players in the market for developing specialised housing for older people… and yet there is an enormous burgeoning in demand. Read more on Inside Housing.

Sheltered Housing and Welfare Reform

The National Housing Federation (NHF) has issued a briefing about the implications of welfare reform for sheltered housing tenants, including the transfer of housing benefit to Pension Credit Plus.  The Federation has raised with DWP and CLG problems that providers were experiencing with the existing definition of ‘exempt accommodation’. A recent DWP ministerial statement acknowledged that the Government were ‘alive’ to the issue and wanted to work with the sector to help find a solution.  The problem with the existing definition is that it potentially excludes a number of schemes because of the contracting arrangements for support.  Download a copy of the briefing from the NHF website.  

Council Housing: Waiting Lists – Parliamentary Written Answer

Mark Lancaster: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government whether local authorities prioritise housing applications from homeless people who reside in sheltered housing or residential homes.

Grant Shapps: Local authorities deal with homelessness applications on a case by case basis. If a household is homeless through no fault of their own, eligible (certain categories of persons from abroad are ineligible) and in priority need then the local authority has a duty to ensure that suitable accommodation is available for them. The priority need categories include someone who is vulnerable because of old age, or physical or mental disability.  Certain people must be given ‘reasonable preference' (i.e. priority) if they apply for social housing. This includes people who are homeless or owed certain duties under the homelessness legislation.

Council Consider Free Transfer of Land for Homes

Durham Council is considering giving land for nearly 40 homes to a housing association free of charge. Cabinet members will be asked to approve a proposal to give land at Ushaw Moor and Brandon to Vela Group. The sites currently contain sheltered housing, however a decision was made to close these facilities in November 2010, due to the cost of bringing the 1970’s complexes up to modern standards. Vela Group has been offered £1.3 million in HCA funding to develop 36 apartments, and two bungalows across the two sites, but the deal is conditional on the council handing over the land. Read more on the Durham County Council website.