Older Persons Housing Strategy

Older PeoplesStrategy

Executive Summary

1Part one: Introduction & Context

1.1Why have an Older Peoples Housing Strategy?

1.2Demographic and Social Trends

1.3Southway Tenants

1.4The National Policy Context

1.5Housing and Older People – The Local Context

1.6What Older People Say

1.7Southway Aims and Objectives

2Part two:Key Challenges and Priority Outcomes

2.1Specialised Housing

2.2Lifetime Homes and Adaptations

2.3Energy Efficiency and Affordable Warmth

2.4Homeswap

2.5Information

2.6Services

2.7Lifetime Neighbourhoods

2.8An Age Friendly Organisation

3Part three: Delivering the Strategy

3.1Consultation and Engagement

3.2Developing Partnerships

3.3Delivery

Part 1: Introduction and Context

1.1Why Have an Older Peoples Housing Strategy?

The U.K population is ageing. The number of people reaching retirement age and living well in to their later years is increasing at a faster rate than other age groups in society.

Understanding this change and both the challenges and opportunities it presents must be addressed in policy that meets the needs and aspirations of older people. Making the right changes and allocating the right resources is the key to successfully managing this demographic shift.

A significant proportion of Southway tenants are older people. Ad part of the Futures Strategy, adopted in May 2010, Southway aims to “Improve the quality of life of our older tenants”. This Strategy sets out how this will be done.

1.2Demographic and Social Trends

A Changing Population

The scale of the changing age of the population in Manchester can best be explored using data from the Projecting Older People Population Information System (POPPI) and the Projecting Adult Needs Information System (PANSI). Both systems use forecasts provided by the Office of National Statistics (ONS) based on current ageing trends. It is a tool used across the public, private and charitable sector to help inform policy and planning.

The POPPI data for Manchester shows that, in 2009 there were 50,900 people aged over 65 in the city. The forecast suggests that by 2020 this group will have grown by 7.7%.When extended to the year 2030, the population is expected to reach a growth of 28.09%, compared to 2009. The POPPI forecast also shows that the number of those aged over 85 is growing proportionately faster than those aged 65-84 over the two decades.

The PANSI forecast suggests that over the same period the population of Manchester aged under 65 will also grow from 342,100 in 2010, to 374,300 in 2020. This represents a 9.4% growth over 10 years. However, when the forecast is extended to the year 2030, the rate of growth for the population under 65 is considerably slower than the rate for those aged over 65 at 16.02%.

When compared directly, the population forecasts over the next two decadesshow thenumbers of older people in society is growing in proportion to those aged 18-64.

1.3Southway Tenants

The STATUS survey is a customer satisfaction survey which Southway tenants last competed in autumn 2010, and which includes the collection of household profile and satisfaction data.

In South Manchester the proportion of the total population over 60 is 18.2%, this compares to the STATUS survey showing that 43% of Southway households containat least one person over the age of 60.

The STATUS survey indicates that there are a higher proportion of pensioners living alone in Southway properties in comparison to the wider South Manchester population. About 25% of Southway households comprise of one person aged over 60, living alone.

The STATUS survey also shows a high proportion, 76%, of people aged over 60suffering a limiting long-term illness or disability.

About 45% of Southway tenants aged below 60 years old receive Income Support benefit. As this population ages, it is likely that, just as with the current tenants aged over 60, they will be largely dependant on state benefits.

Roughly a quarter of Southway households contain children aged below 16 years old. We can expect that as the general population ages there will be a risk that themix of older people and young families in Southway properties has the potential to create polarised communities withdifficulties in neighbourhood management.

According to the STATUS survey 95% of people aged over 60 are living in general needs type houses and flats. General needs housing is not specifically developed to meet the needs of client groups requiring support.

Between late 2007 and summer 2010 Southway has completed approximately 240 major adaptations to general needs properties to assist older tenants in their homes with a further 115 older peopleon the waiting list for major adaptations.

Aside from adapting general needs properties, Southway offers two types of housing designated for older tenants: sheltered housing and age-restricted. Sheltered Housing offers older people their own accommodation with the added support of trained staff on hand to help. The properties are usually adapted to suit the specific needs of older people. Sheltered Housing schemes also provide activities for residents and opportunities for socialising. Currently Southway offers one sheltered housing facility of 22 properties at Grove Lane.

Southway has three other age-restricted schemes of properties that are reserved for tenants aged over 60. These are on Tatenhall Walk, Ravenhead Close, and Ebnall Walk. Southway also provides 162 age-restricted bungalows throughout theSouth Manchester area, with the majority in Burnage and Didsbury.

Altogether, Southway provides accommodation for older people in 206 properties out of total 5836 properties. Housing exclusively allocated to older people accounts for 3.5% of the total stock.

1.4National Policy Context

At the time of writing this Strategy (March 2011) the national policy context is based on reports that were produced prior to thecurrent government being formed in May 2010.

Personalisation

Personalisation represented a major shift in thinking in the Public Sector. The model sees service recipient as individuals with strengths, preferences and aspirations.The recipient should be placed at the centre of the process of identifying their needs and making choices about how they are supported to live with autonomy.

The report “Putting People First: A shared vision and commitment to transforming care” (2007) set out a commitment to this approach across government.

Personalisation promotes the idea that individual budgets should be created by pooling together resources allocated from multiple funding streams. This could combine money from adult social care budgets, Supporting People, Disabled Facilities Grant, independent living funds etc. This will form one pot of money from which an individual can procure services that met their personalised care and support plan.

This could mean, for example, a person may choose to spend money on a walk-in shower and reduce the cost of domiciliary care. People will also have the opportunity to choose where they procure their own services, for example they may switch personal alarm provider away from the service offered to them as part of their sheltered housing scheme.

Lifetime Homes, Lifetime Neighbourhoods: A National Strategy for an Ageing Society (CLG, DH & DWP 2008)

“Lifetime Homes, Lifetime Neighbourhoods” sets out an overarching strategy for the ageing populationstating that ‘The ageing society poses one of our greatest housing challenges’.

The strategy identifies that most of our homes and communities are not designed to meet peoples changing needs as they grow older. It positions ageing as a cross-government priority stating that in future housing, health and care will be increasingly interdependent.

It covers areas such as the need for information and advice, help with ‘staying put’, the need for adaptations and lifetime homes, lifetime neighbourhoods, reconnecting housing, health and care and the need for specialised housing.

This Strategy is heavily influenced by the Lifetime Homes Lifetime Neighbourhoods approach.

Housing and Older People – Local Context

Manchester: A Great Place to Grow Older 2010-2020 (Manchester City Council)

Manchester’s ageing strategy features a section on ‘Lifetime Neighbourhoods’ that includeshousing. The document highlights the importance of appropriate housing for older people, and goes on to identify a lack of housing options for older residents who wish to stay in a particular neighbourhood. A number of actions are listed for completion over the period 2010-2012, these include:

• Delivering Manchester City Council’s Older Persons Housing Strategy – increasing housing supply and choice particularly social housing and on a shared ownership basis
• Addressing energy efficiency and fuel poverty
• Delivering more equipment and adaptation and increasing accessible homes
• Extending handy persons and related support services
• Ensuring adequate information and support is available
• Increasing opportunities for community engagement for older people in retirement housing or communities

The strategy is shaped around three broad themes: promoting equality, improving relationships and improving engagement.

‘Promoting equality’ involves actively tackling age discrimination by introducing age-friendly policies, facilities and services as standard. The aim is to improve the quality of life for all older residents and to encourage a positive view of ageing and older people.

‘Improving relationships’ is a dual approach to tackling loneliness and social isolation, and strengthening intergenerational relationships. This approach aims to achieve greater understanding and respect and to forge of new friendships. Older people will be encouraged to make more use of information and communication technology to make and maintain connections with others.

‘Improving engagement’ will ensure that older people play an active role in shaping and directing policy and planning, enabling older citizens to participate in collective decision making, service design and project delivery.

Greater Manchester Strategic Housing Market Assessment (Deloitte & GVA Grimley, Dec 2008)

This statutory report evaluates the state of the housing market in Greater Manchester drawing conclusions on likely future demand. Addressing the housing needs of older people is identified as a priority in the development of policy. The key issues raised are:

• There will be a major growth in the elderly population across Greater Manchester in the future. The magnitude of change, and the fact that relatively little priority is given to this group’s housing issues means that this is likely to be a major housing issue.
• There is too little information on how this major demographic shift will impact on housing needs and on the aspirations and requirements of the older cohort.
• Needs and incomes vary widely and the issue needs to be tackled at an authority, or preferably local, level.

The Southern area (including the Southway area, as well as Trafford and Stockport) is identified as an area that could see an increase in mixed tenure development across a variety of areas and meet the need for intermediate housing. This model provides a mixture of housing suitable for the ranging requirements of older tenants.

The report indicates that the demand for sheltered/supported accommodation is likely to rise. The size and build quality of existing housing of this type requires upgrading to meet current and future needs, in addition to the requirement for new purpose built accommodation. Supported housing should be in close proximity to services and transport links and integrated into the surrounding community.

Finally, the report cites research conducted by developers McCarthy and Stone that suggests that 80% of their older clients currently live (and thereforewant to live) within 5 miles of their previous residence.

1.6What Older People Say

The key messages nationally from older people regarding housing include the desire for good design which meets the needs of all age groups, with more space and good storage. Older people want to be involved in planning housing options, spatial planning and design, and in the community. Older people want choice, with access to good information and a range of housing options. They want funding to improve and adapt houses supported by reliable repairs, maintenance and adaptations service.

A series of Southway Voice Panel events in 2010 specifically asked our older tenants what they would like to see included in this strategy. The key points included:

Information

Tenants stated a need for increased provision of information and advice, particularly regarding adaptations.

Community activities and events

Tenants gave examples of coffee mornings and day trips, computer courses, craft session and health awareness sessions.

Community services

Suggestions included a community bus, encouraging better public transport services, cleaning and shopping services, and a befriending service. Tenants also felt that a telephone support service for vulnerable tenants was needed.

Physical Needs

Intercoms on front doors, house alarms and other security features like security lights were all mentioned. Tenants also wanted better access to specialist accommodation like bungalows with a warden service, and age restricted flats with lift access. Greater use of minor measures like grab rails was also discussed.

The aspirations and needs of older tenants were also captured in the STATUS survey.When the feedback from the survey is compared against the age of the respondents we can focus on the needs specifically identified by tenants aged over 60 years old.

The main priority suggestions made by older people were:

• Parking spaces that are nearer to their homes.
• Frequent maintenance of trees, hedges and green spaces
• More frequent cleaning and maintenance of the roads and paths
• More frequent and visible police patrolling
• Better community facilities and local amenities

The STATUS survey has also revealed that 94% of tenants aged over 65 years old are very or fairly satisfied overall with the services that Southway provide. Whilst this result is very encouraging Southway should ensure that they aim to uphold these high satisfaction rates as the needs of the population continue to change.

1.7Southway Aims and Objectives

This strategy has been developed to support the organisation in making progress towards achieving the vision and objectives of Southway Housing Trust.

Our Vision

We will work in partnership with others to make South Manchester a place that people are proud of – a safe place where people choose to live, work and play.

We will:

• Be warm, welcoming and accessible to every customer
• Provide excellent services
• Provide affordable, high quality secure homes
• Help to create a cleaner and greener environment

Our Objectives

• Confident communities- People are confident and proud of the community they live in. They respect one another and are encouraged to realise their potential.

• Trusted and skilled staff- Our staff are trusted to do the right thing – they are enthusiastic, skilled and willing to go the extra mile for customers.

• Respect for customers- Our customer services are excellent, and meet our customers’ needs and expectations. We listen to and respect our customers, dealing with enquiries in a helpful and friendly way.

• Partnerships- We care about our local communities. We develop strong partnerships to support them, helping to improve their neighbourhoods.

• Listen and consult- We are open and accountable to our residents. We consult and involve them before we make plans and decisions, making sure they are involved from the start.

The overall aim of this Strategy is to support delivery of the Futures priority theme which is to “Improve the quality of life of our older tenants”.

Part 2: Key Challenges and Priority Outcomes

2.1Specialised Housing

Specialised housing refers to the range of housing specifically built for older people, from sheltered/ retirement housing to nursing homes. Nationally, around 330,000 older people live in care homes, and some 100,000 in private retirement properties and 400,000 in rented retirement properties. Lifetime Homes, Lifetime Neighbourhoods calls for a new positive vision for specialised housing as somewhere that more people aspire to live in later life and is suited to their lifestyles. It identifies a significant rise in the need for specialised housing that is reflected in the various local housing documents such as the MCC Ageing Strategy and the Greater Manchester Strategic Housing Market Assessment.

This demand will be shaped by expectations of quality in build and design, and a wider choice of tenure, including outright sale and shared equity options.

Southway offers 206 age-restricted properties, including 22 cottage flats in the sheltered scheme on Grove Lane.

At the time of writing there are 327 individual applicants, aged over 65, queuing for housing in Southway areas. Of these, 97 applicants have a housing ‘need’- either sheltered accommodation or an adapted property.

The graph below demonstrates that levels of need for sheltered housing are relatively low, but the need for adapted properties accounts for roughly a quarter of all applications.

The STAUS survey shows that approximately 72% of Southway’s customers aged over 65 live in ‘general need’ houses. Less than 5% live in age-restricted bungalows, with the remaining 13% living in a mix of age-restricted and general need flats.

Southway has a recognised lack of choice for older people who may need accommodation with support or who may choose to live in a more appropriate or specially adapted property.

However, there is arange of specialised housing available for older people in South Manchester excluding the provisions made by Southway. Other registered providers of social housing offer accommodation with and without support in the area, including Adactus, GuinnessNorthernCounties and Johnnie Johnson Housing Trust.

In the present economic climate, it is unfeasible to develop options for new build. To compensate, Southway will consider how best to maximize the choices available to our tenants wishing to move to specialised accommodation within the South Manchester area.