|
Home > Regional Housing
Strategy > Meeting the region's needs
for specialist and supported housing
Regional Priority 4: Meeting the region's needs for specialist
and supported housing
Issue
The scale and complexity of supported and specialist housing
needs makes this area a challenging one for strategy development
- covering the range of older people, people with learning disabilities,
people with mental health problems, people with physical disabilities
or sensory impairments, victims of domestic violence, homeless people,
teenage mothers and other vulnerable young people, people who have
chronic alcohol or drug addiction and ex-offenders. Within this
broad spectrum are people who might need minor capital investment
in adaptations to their own homes, through to people requiring intensive
support services in specially designed facilities.
The case for action
Current demographic projections suggest demand for many types
of supported housing will continue to grow considerably in coming
years. For example, research by Lancaster University's North West
Regional Research Laboratory for the North West Regional Assembly
and others forecasts that by 2021, 19% of the region's population
will be aged 65 or over, and 2.2% will be over 85. This compares
with figures of 15.6% and 1.8% for 1996. The research also includes
projections of the numbers of disabled people in the North West
(e.g. a 10.8% increase in the numbers of Disability Living Allowance
claimants from 1996 to 2021, and an 11.1% increase in Incapacity
Benefit claimants in the same period).
With substantial variations evident in all of these trends between
different parts of the region and between different ethnic groups,
it is essential for local authorities and other agencies to understand
future trends in relation to different needs groups in their areas
of operation. For example, as the North West Regional Assembly point
out, disabled people have considerably reduced choices about where
they live, especially when they require accommodation that has been
built or adapted to meet their specific needs, and they are frequently
dependent on housing provided by registered social landlords or
local authorities.
Delivering change
Investment strategies for specialist and supported housing need
to be based upon sound information about the extent and geographical
patterns of both need and current provision. It is clear that information
at regional level is not sufficient to begin developing detailed
regional strategies, and this will need to be remedied. For example,
the Housing Corporation will be working with the Board to develop
an older persons strategy for the North West, building on the Corporation's
national strategy and putting it into practice. In the meantime,
there are a range of specific national targets in this area which
will need to be met (for example, all lone parents under 18 should
have suitable accommodation with support by December 2003). For
many projects, revenue funding is critical, and the links between
the capital investment and the broader support packages available
from a variety of health and social care agencies are key to delivering
many of the desired outcomes. The priority for the region is to:
Priority 4.1
Ensure a range of specialist and supported housing is available,
appropriate to local needs and strategies, and integrated with relevant
support and care services.
Because of the variety of people this activity is designed to help,
a wide range of partners need to be brought together to establish
and evidence need, map existing provision, develop the local strategies
and link together the support and care service agendas with any
requirements for capital investment. Clearly, the views of the clients
involved are also crucial.
In setting out its own investment strategy, the Regional
Housing Board's priorities for the use of the single housing pot
will be:
SHP Priority 5. Providing appropriate capital funding for
specialist housing provision to meet clearly identified needs, in
line with local strategic priorities.
Given the current levels of strategic knowledge and the changes
underway in the revenue funding systems, the Board's approach to
funding decisions is likely to be opportunistic in the short term.
Outcomes
Projects supported by the Board should help secure outcomes
including
- Tackling the social exclusion of people with specialist housing
and supported housing needs by providing high quality, appropriate
homes integrated into communities
The Board expect investment of single housing pot resources under
this priority to be focused on
- Development of new specialist and supported housing;
- Improvements and adaptations to existing housing provision to
meet specialist needs, including continuing funding of adaptations
to RSL stock
Resources will continue to be allocated separately to local authorities
under the Disabled Facilities Grant programme, which falls outside
the scope of the single housing pot.
More work
The information base currently available on the levels of provision
and need for supported and specialist housing is inadequate - it
is not clear at regional level what the North West's problems and
priorities are. Demographic trends, particularly in relation to
the ageing population, are suitable for analysis, and this work
was commenced through the Lancaster University study. We need to
understand the implications for future patterns of demand for different
types of housing across the region. We also need to pull together
the local strategies developed through the Supporting People process
to help identify key regional priorities.
|
