Housing 21 News

The impact of Personal Budgets on Older People’s Housing

Housing 21 has issued a report on the impact of the Government’s personalisation agenda on older people’s housing. The publication coincides with the launch of our first ever on-line discussion board, which aims to broaden the debate.

The report discusses key issues raised at a stakeholder workshop, including:

• Ways housing providers can enable older people to put together personalised support packages.
• Flexibility of staffing and management structures.
• Implications for the sustainability of housing models.

The workshop concluded that housing providers who are adaptable and put the older person first rather than the service should be optimistic about the opportunities and challenges that Personal Budgets present.

Sarah Vallelly, Research Manager at Housing 21 said: “We want to kick-start discussion around the impact that personal budgets will have on older people’s housing. Person-centred services will become a reality and we believe that the personalisation agenda can create new opportunities for extra care and sheltered housing.”

James Berrington, Policy Manager at the Housing Corporation said “This work greatly adds to our understanding of the impact the personalisation agenda will have on specialist housing. It is published at a critical time when the personalisation agenda dominates public policy debate. Lessons learned from this work in the context of housing for older people will also prove useful for all specialist housing, whatever the client group.”

Housing 21 received an Innovation and Good Practice grant from the Housing Corporation with support from the Care Services Improvement Partnership (CSIP) to undertake this project. The next phase will involve work in West Sussex and Oldham with the final report published at the end of this year.

Download a pdf of the report “Building Choices”, and visit our discussion board to have your say on this important topic.

Published: 08-July-2008