MISSION
STATEMENT
Although there are
approximately 25,000 Sheltered Housing schemes in the UK,
at present, there is no specific site by and for their
residents . As a result rented Sheltered Housing is
fragmented in its response to changes and new ideas with no
common voice. . The purpose of this website , therefore, is
to bring together people throughout the country who are
willing to form some sort of national organisation
(Council, perhaps ?) to give voice to our needs and
concerns. Especially important at this time where Scheme
Managers (Wardens) are being replaced by Floating Housing
Officers, very often without consultation with the
residents
THE BATTLE WE FACE
Until recently, residents of
Sheltered Housing, who were in receipt of benefits, had
their Scheme Manager's services paid for from within those
benefits.. However, Supporting People have now taken over
responsibility for the payment for these services in rented
Sheltered Housing, and they are doing things differently.
.They are making block grants instead of individual benefit
payments. They have also decided that they will only pay
for these services if there is a proven individual need and
what is considered 'need' , it seems, is a closely guarded
secret. Effectively it translates to: They will not (in
most cases) pay for a static Scheme Manager and these in
future will be replaced by 'Floating Support Officers'.
Such staff , as the term suggests, float from area to area
to see those residents on their visit list. It does not end
there. Whereas the landlord was , in most cases, the
employer of the Warden this may not continue and Supporting
People may well put the provision of support services out
to contract. There is at least one company advertising on
the internet to provide these services !
These changes are being pushed through
often as if the residents of Sheltered Housing have no say
in such matters . Yet, a very local survey carried out (see
micro survey) indicates that more than 90% of residents do
not wish to the lose their site based Warden. A worrying
statistic is emerging suggesting that avoidable deaths are
occuring where, if there had been a site based Warden
present, people may have been saved (see avoidable deaths).
Not all residents of Sheltered
Housing are in receipt of benefits. For these it means the
service they opted into, when they first took up residence,
is being changed without consent from them at all.
Where residents have been asked it is usually through the
process of 'consultation', in turn, often misused to imply
or confuse people into thinking that a democratic process
is taking place. This is not the case, a consultation does
not give residents the power of 'veto'. A consultation is
an exchange of views. The housing provider is not bound by
the views expressed at it by the tenants !
In updating the, above, information it is worth mentioning
that some providers of Sheltered Housing have decided to
absorb the extra costs rather than turn their units over to
Floating Support. The question must surely be asked: if
these enlightened and dedicated providers can do it, why
can't the others ?
DEMOCRACY
BUT ON HOUSING ASSOCIATION OR LOCAL GOVERNMENT TERMS !
A Google trawl for
residents associations in Sheltered Housing reveals that
there are many , but if there are any that are not run
directly by their council or RSL then they are hard to
find. The internet should be a way through which
information can be transferred between residents of
different geographical areas as well as local areas. The
effect of a council/RSL running resident association sites
and previewing any incoming messages means that they can
filter information so that their residents only read what
they wish them to read and prevents them forming national
groupings.
Beware of some Supporting People statistics . Frequently
they claim that their pilot schemes of running Floating
Support have been a success. However, they are apt to
include clients outside of Sheltered Housing in the figures
and these people have never received Floating Support
before. To them it is a new and desirable service and they
are bound to report it as a success and, since they
represent a majority, their opinions swamp those of the
residents of Sheltered Housing who are generally vehemently
against the removal of their site based Wardens. There are
two distinct subjects involved which are incompatible . To
include them together could be seen as a crude and
transparent attempt to 'bury the
views' of the residents of
Sheltered Housing and artificially produce figures that can
be taken to mean that the residents of Sheltered Housing
agree that Floating Support is a success !
Fact: The average age of
residents in Sheltered housing is 75.
Fact: 19% of the over 85s
live in Sheltered Housing
(Government's own figures).
Currently going through
Parliament and the House of Lords is a Bill which seeks,
inter alia, to confer the Human Rights Act to the tenants
of RSLs . (This includes rented Sheltered Housing) where
tenants had previously opted for transfer from a council
owned property to an RSL. It was little known, and not
explained to them at the time, was that RSLs were regarded
by the DCLG as private landlords and therefore not subject
to the Human Rights Act, for the purpose of tenant
conflicts with their landlords . Tenants transferring would
be losing this protection. However, it was still pretty
clear that RSLs were in the public sector for a number of
reasons and the declaration that they were private
landlords was in consequence very contentious.
Understandably the National Federation of Housing NFH are
arguing against the imposition of the HRA upon RSLs . NFH
are a housing providers organisation so this can be
anticipated of them. More difficult to understand is that
the Department of Communities and Local Government are also
arguing against human rights for RSL tenants. So, we have a
Government Department that does not wish tenants of RSLs to
have the same human rights as those living in council
houses. An extraordinary state of affairs would be the apt
comment !
FOOTNOTE
It
is gratefully recorded here that this web-site and its
campaign is receiving significant support from The
Pensioners Party and readers of this web-site are
especially recommended to view The Pensioners Party
web-site, as below
www.thepensionsersparty.org
THIS SITE RECOMMENDS AND
SUPPORTS THE PRINCIPLE OF TACTICAL VOTING BY THE ELDERLY IN
ALL ELECTIONS
www.supportsolutions.co.
contacts for this web-site (www.shelteredhousinguk.com)
are:
jackbov@yahoo.com (England and
Wales)
r.m.davidson@btinternet.com
(Scotland )
patrick.yates1@btopenworld.com
(England and Wales)
mail@shelteredhousinguk.com
(All UK)
vernon.yarker@virgin.net (Northern Ireland)
