Dorset Older Peoples Housing Plan

1. Dorset Older Peoples Housing Plan Robin James, Service Development Officer, Dorset County Council

2. Dorset Older Peoples Housing Plan • Approved by Older Peoples Housing Strategy Group – 4th June 2013 • Complements Supporting People Partnership Strategy – 2013 – 2016 • Covers: • Universal Services • Sheltered Housing • Extra Care

3. Dorset Older Peoples Housing PlanPriorities • The need to provide high quality information and advice services for older people • The provision of decent, accessible, warm and safe homes for older people • Promoting independence • Increasing housing choice

4. Dorset Older Peoples Housing Plan

5. Universal Services • Generic Floating Support (not older people) • The Dorset Home Service • Core HIA • Handyvan • HOOPS 2 Providers: • West Dorset Care and Repair • Mears Home Improvement

6. Universal Services - Proposal • Dorset Independent Living Service (DILS) • Generic Floating Support for all vulnerable adults • Dorset Home Service • Single Point of Access for short term SP type services • From April 2015

7. Dorset Independent Living Service It is planned to: • Incorporate services currently provided by the Dorset Home Service within DILS, focusing on county wide provision of: • Time critical work: • Casework incorporating short term Crisis Support • Safer Homes service • Routine Work: • Casework incorporating Housing Options for Older People’s Service • Core incorporating Disabled Facility Grants • Handyvan

8. Dorset Independent Living Service It is planned to: • Publicise and coordinate complementary floating support services as part of the development of a Single Point of Access • Consider the extent to which housing association tenants should be given access to the service, should they generally be referred to their landlord? • Keep under review the relative merits of floating support and sheltered housing models of service provision. • Consider developing Handyvan, seeking to become a trusted provider to all older people charging commercial rates to those who can afford to pay. Work with Trading Standards to minimise any duplication between Dorset Home Service and Trading Standards ‘Trusted Trader’ services.

9. Dorset Independent Living Service It is planned to: • Encourage or require providers to embrace Social Enterprise principles i.e. reinvestment of surpluses into the service. • Better monitor performance, including benchmarking outputs, understanding providers income & expenditure and outcome monitoring. • Commission taking into account the countywide review of Aids & Adaptations. This could result in Dorset Home Service carrying out grant administration work currently being carried out by the District and Borough Councils.

10. Dorset Independent Living Service It is planned to: • Ensure service stability by asking partners to commit funding for the life of the contract. • Keep under review effective means of publicising the service. • Work with partners to maximise funding for the HIA and Safer Homes services. Keep under review the feasibility of bidding for Public Health, CCG, Social Care Fund resources or other funding in order to sustain or develop the service.

11. Extra Care Housing • Four Schemes • Trailway Court, Blandford • Bure House Christchurch • Foylebank Court, Portland • Westhaven House, Weymouth

12. Extra Care Housing • New contracts at Bure House, Foylebank Court and Westhaven House from Summer 2013 with a combined housing related support and care & support contract • Provider will be Aster Living • Staffing: • One person on site 24 hours a day • Scheme Manager (18.5 hours) • Activity Coordinator (18.5 hours) • Care provided is limited to unplanned and/or emergency care. Staff will be expected to deliver some packages of care on site with a corresponding reduction in contract price.

13. Existing Extra Care Housing - Proposals • It is proposed that the operation of allocation panels be reviewed, including the use of ‘access hurdles’, to ensure that services meet the aim of diverting service users from residential care. • It is planned to review charging arrangements to ensure consistency and fairness, with new arrangements to take effect from April 2014

14. New Extra Care Housing - Proposals • Develop an Extra Care Housing Strategy • Hold a provider engagement day which focuses on making extra care housing affordable to the commissioner and landlord • Keep the value for money and effectiveness of extra care services under review • Use the Strategic Housing for Older People Analysis Tool (SHOP) to make the case for Extra Care housing as a preferred alternative to residential care

15. New Extra Care Housing - Proposals • Promote the development of additional extra care housing. Giving consideration to a model which: • Permits occupation by services users with significant care needs including people with dementia; people with disabilities living into older age (for example, people with learning disabilities); BME people living into older age • Is mixed tenure • Results in reduction in the use of residential care • Consider using Dorset County Council owned or Section 106 affordable housing sites.

16. New Extra Care Housing - Proposals • Give priority to the largest towns without an extra care scheme • Investigate the feasibility of converting existing sheltered housing schemes, for instance at Turbary Court, Ferndown and Meadows Court, Verwood to extra care. • Consider piloting partnership working with one or more private sector providers with a view to developing a mixed tenure model that meets Dorset’s needs. • Consider the development of reablement housing, providing an alternative to residential care for people in hospital who are unable to return home

17. Sheltered Housing – The Spec • Sheltered housing has a preventative role – preventing the need for more intensive interventions. It can act as a community hub with strong links to the wider community. Individual schemes can develop a strong ethos of mutual support. • This service is based on the purchaser’s commitment to: • Fund sheltered housing services. They are seen as a mutually supportive environments: providing safe and secure homes for older and vulnerable people, maintaining their health, wellbeing and independence for as long as possible, thus ensuring that they do not need to seek more institutional forms of accommodation • Develop the sheltered housing brand as one of a range of choices for older and / or vulnerable people – some funded by Supporting People some not. • Work in partnership with landlords to provide a seamless housing management and housing related support service.

18. Sheltered Housing • 4 Contracts with large scale voluntary transfer housing associations: • Block Gross • Based on delivery of average hours per service user • 20 contracts with other providers: • Block Subsidy • Based on delivery of average hours per service user

19. Sheltered Housing • Both based on: • Core + Enhanced Service • Support Staff + Activity Coordinators • Working on monitoring framework • Outcome Star?

20. Sheltered Housing - Proposals • Identify effective ways of meeting the needs of a diverse group of people with ages ranging from 51 to 101+ including a number of people still in full time employment and some people with challenging behaviour including former street homeless people and people with mental health issues • Review use of activity coordinators with a view to sharing their activities across schemes • Review work carried out by POPPS in sheltered housing schemes

21. Sheltered Housing - Proposals • Work with social housing providers to manage down to a smaller provision of higher quality sheltered housing, with decommissioning, upgrading or change over time of sub standard schemes. A specific target is not considered appropriate rather it is proposed that decisions are taken on a scheme by scheme basis in relation to: • Location and demand in the local market • The quality and accessibility of individual schemes for older people • Define minimum accommodation standards for the future, including space for mobility buggies, and to agree an overall decommissioning plan for sub standard sheltered housing for rent

22. Sheltered Housing - Proposals • Review mix of accommodation suitable for older people seeking to ensure that sheltered housing is not the only option • Seek to ensure that allocation policies ensure that only people needing sheltered housing are allocated such accommodation. • Monitor the impact of welfare benefit changes on demand for sheltered housing

23. Sheltered Housing - Proposals • Support the development of a small amount of new affordable sheltered housing for rent or shared ownership to improve the overall quality of the stock, and to aid the functioning of the wider housing markets and to release much needed family housing. • Pilot partnership working with one or more private sector providers with a view to developing a mixed tenure model that meets Dorset’s needs

24. Shared Lives Shared Lives is a scheme whereby a person with learning disabilities lives with as part of a family. The family receive a payment to acknowledge the care and support provided. It is planned to: • Consider introducing a Shared Lives scheme for older people. • Consider introducing a Homeshare scheme. This is a service whereby an older person provides a home for a younger person who, in return for a reduced rent, provides support.