Agenda item

Independent Living

Joint Report of the Director of Adult Health and Social Care and Director of Housing Services.

Minutes:

6.1

The Committee received a report and presentation which identified how the Council’s Housing and Social Care Services were committed to helping people to live independently at home and recognising the city’s shortfall in housing for older persons.

 

 

6.2

Present for this item were Suzanne Allen, Head of City-Wide Housing Service and Alexis Chappell, Director of Adult Health and Social Care.

 

 

6.3

Alexis Chappell introduced the report stating that the current Older Persons Independent Living Strategy was currently being reviewed.  She said that the report gave background information on how Housing and Social Care were working jointly to promote more appropriate housing choices and give support for independent living.

 

 

6.4

Suzanne Allen referred to the presentation stating that the city’s population was growing and becoming increasingly diverse.  She said that people were living longer with a range of health conditions, including learning disabilities and autism, and housing was key to supporting independent living.  She briefly outlined what Older Persons Independent Living (OPIL) housing was and the benefits of it.  She said that in Sheffield, there was a limited range of OPIL housing, stating that many of the sheltered housing schemes were provided by social landlords, were expensive and unaffordable to many people and were located in the southwest of the city.  Suzanne Allen said that there were shortfalls many parts of the city and there was high demand for extra care housing.  She referred to three new care schemes in the Parson Cross, Gleadless Valley and Birley areas of the city, highlighting some of the benefits of integrated housing, health and care.  Ms. Allen said that the key challenges were to widen choice and options for all incomes, tenures and areas; address large shortfalls of OPIL housing and also address inequalities faced by the BAME and LGBT+ communities.

 

 

6.5

Members made various comments and asked a number of questions as follows:-

 

 

6.6

·                One of the key things was to co-create and co-develop the Adult Social Care and Health Care Strategy by using better technology to develop solutions that enable people to live more independently and longer in accommodation of their choice.  Specialised schemes can be expensive so would only be developed in areas that required them.  The Council’s Prevention Strategy has identified the need to improve the range of housing options available and meet its rehousing duties. There should be more affordable options for young people and for those with complex needs. As well as providing housing, the Housing Service and Adult Social Care Services were working jointly to improve the support that was currently available to help people keep their homes and live independently.

 

 

 

·                It was felt that there should be better integration amongst communities with a mix of age ranges and help households where they wanted to stay together or in close proximity to each other.  There was no reason why general needs housing could not be developed to assist extended families to help and support each other.

 

 

 

·                One of the key things was to support older adults with disabilities and the Council was working with health colleagues to improve outcomes for individuals through the NHS and social care services to improve what was available throughout the city.  The NHS should invest in and set ambitious targets for scaling up shared living models of housing with care and support

 

 

 

·                It was intended to pursue capital and revenue funding from other partners. NHS England have contributed towards the new developments in the city.  Also, work was ongoing to bring in private capital from private developers to invest in these new schemes and offer advice and support. As part of the scheme at Newstead, a number of units were being set aside for people who have had housing difficulties throughout their lives, such as intermittent homelessness, and there needed to be inter-agency support work to help such people settle there.  It would be easier working with partners, if the Council had a clear vision of what it wanted to provide so that along with its partners, they were able to meet the needs of the people of Sheffield.

 

 

 

·                With regard to the areas where care homes were situated, as well as new schemes, the housing service was looking at its existing assets, such as if there was empty space on a large site, would it be feasible to build more on that site.  Where no land or property was available, there was a need to work with private developers to encourage them to build extra care housing. 

 

 

 

·                With regard to “age banding” there was no demand, but the Housing Service would look into it again.  Support to help people financially to move, look into it to find out the implications?

 

 

 

·                With regard to financial aspect of moving home and everything it involved, a social worker was now in place to offer financial advice.

 

 

 

·                There was a range of different modelling. Living in extra care housing rather than general needs housing, the health and social care cost savings of £2,441 was an average  figure set  by the NHS.  The health study focuses on those with higher needs.  There are the age-old issues around health and social care and the cost of residential places for those with complex needs  We will look into how to commission and work together to enable people to realise what should be on offer and available to them, as a Council we must show leadership.

 

 

 

·                The proposed OPIL care scheme to be built in Birley is to be designed for specialist needs housing and general needs housing and is to encompass the wider community and not see as for just old people.  The Project Manager looked at what the Housing Service wanted to provide and gave a holistic view of how it could be delivered.  The café and community space available to all, could be accessed from the outside.

 

 

 

·                One of the challenges was how to make the OPIL care schemes affordable and the Service was looking at different ways to offer affordable housing.  There had been concerns about how support had been impacted upon due to the pandemic.

 

 

 

·                There was challenge around affordability and at present there were no answers.  There were different ways of funding places for people and a need to take account of the whole charging system.  The Housing Service wanted to include “charging points” into the schemes, but this was found to be very expensive.

 

 

 

·                The impact of Covid meant that Services had to move away from in-person visits in order to minimise risk, but face to face visits were being reintroduced.

 

 

 

·                With regard to addressing inequalities, the Housing Service was trying to reach out and target communities that were under-represented to establish what their requirements were.  There was to be an action plan developed so that the Housing Service was aware of what people need in the future.

 

 

 

·                The Housing Strategy was developed in 2013 and has been kept under review and a new Strategy was being developed under the Council’s one year plan.  The Housing Service was working closely with its Planning Officers to ensure that housing requirements were reflected in all statutory documents and policies.

 

 

 

·                With regard to planning and new build, there are restrictions on what the Council can require of a developer but can encourage certain standards to be adhered to. There has to be a clear approach to the income the Council receives from its residents which has to be affordable, but also the Council has to be prepared to charge for what it costs to deliver the services.  The Service needs to bring up standards within its existing stock to and make best use of it and also to work with the developers of private housing to make sure that they meet people’s needs and show its in their best interests to develop the type of properties that people want.

 

 

 

·                Most people continue to live in general needs housing or existing schemes one of the advantages of new schemes was that a hub could be provided and the housing strategy would include new build, existing stock and housing support.   It was considered that there had to be a strategy of how we get there to provide this.  Property Services scour every piece of available land, repurchase land and old care homes to make the best use of everything available to it.

 

 

 

·                It was hoped to bring a Practical Living Plan to a future meeting which addressed such issues as loneliness and living in isolation.

 

 

6.7

The Chair outlined a number of issues raised at the meeting as follows:-

 

 

 

·                This area of the Service be prioritised

 

·                Wider piece of work to be carried out

 

·                The need to look at local authority owned land

 

·                Build relationships, possibly by establishing a Developer Forum

 

·                Financing

 

·                OPIL schemes should not all in the same areas of the city

 

·                People want to live in their own communities and don’t want to move away, there was a need to look at how this was to be addressed

 

·                Work with wider stakeholders e.g. the NHS

 

·                Engaging with the BAME community to ask what they want

 

 

 

Supporting documents: