A report highlighted areas of positive practice within the Supporting People programme, with the aim of helping local authorities when making difficult decisions about future service provision. The importance of seeking to maintain a strategic and managed approach, even in the face of resource and time constraints, was critical.
Source: Supporting People: Supporting Service Change in a Time of Pressure – Sharing lessons for service reconfiguration and decommissioning, Chartered Institute of Housing
Links: Report
Notes: The Supporting People programme provides housing-related support services to enable vulnerable people to live independently.
Date: 2010-Dec
A report examined the housing needs of older people in rural areas.
Source: Rural Housing, Older People and the Big Society, Housing Learning and Improvement Network/Department of Health
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Dec
A paper examined ways of enabling older people, and those with long-term conditions, to 'downsize' to more appropriate general accommodation. It considered the barriers to moving, the challenges to be addressed, and some solutions.
Source: Janet Sutherland, Viewpoint on Downsizing, Housing Learning and Improvement Network/Department of Health
Links: Paper
Date: 2010-Dec
An independent study found that the savings to other services of the Supporting People Programme in Wales (providing housing-related support to vulnerable people) 'far outweighed' the cost of the scheme.
Source: Mansel Aylward, Kerry Bailey, Ceri Phillips, Keith Cox and Eleanor Higgins, The Supporting People Programme in Wales: Final Report, Welsh Assembly Government
Links: Report | Summary | WAG press release | NHS Wales press release
Date: 2010-Nov
A factsheet examined the question of whether there was a market for extra care housing in the private rented sector; and, if so, what role it might play within the spectrum of tenure and care choices available to older people.
Source: Lawrence Miller, Private Rented Extra Care: A New Market?, Housing Learning and Improvement Network/Department of Health
Links: Factsheet
Date: 2010-Nov
An article examined key findings from a multidisciplinary study of 10 remodelled extra care schemes for older people. It said that the absence of a clear national definition of 'extra care' made it difficult for older people, their relatives, and social workers to decide whether an extra care scheme was appropriate.
Source: Fay Wright et al., 'What is the "extra" in extra care housing?', British Journal of Social Work, Volume 40 Number 7
Links: Abstract
Date: 2010-Oct
An article used data from the British Household Panel Study over the period 1991-2007 to examine the factors associated with residential mobility among people aged 50 and over. Those in late middle age (50-59) and those aged 90 and over were most likely to change address. Migration was strongly associated with changes in partnership, health, and economic status during the previous 12 months.
Source: Maria Evandrou, Jane Falkingham and Marcus Green, 'Migration in later life: evidence from the British Household Panel Study', Population Trends 141, Winter 2010, Office for National Statistics
Links: Article
Date: 2010-Sep
A report examined the role that housing wealth played in the overall distribution of wealth. It considered the potential role that housing wealth might play in improving the welfare of retired households, and the effect of inheritance and lifetime gifts on the inter-generational distribution of wealth.
Source: Lindsey Appleyard and Karen Rowlingson, Home-Ownership and the Distribution of Personal Wealth: A review of the evidence, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Date: 2010-Sep
A paper examined changes in older people's home circumstances, including moving home. It looked at what helped or hindered the transition, as well as changes experienced when people stayed put. Older people without adequate resources, especially if in poor health, needed more support with housing decisions.
Source: Katherine Hill and Liz Sutton with Janet Harvey, Housing Transitions: Older people's changing housing needs, Department of Health
Links: Paper
Date: 2010-Sep
A report said that more than one-third of equity release customers (people raising money by surrendering part of the value of their homes) had used the extra cash to help clear their debts, and almost one-half had put it towards essential house maintenance.
Source: Louise Overton, Housing and Finance in Later Life: A study of UK equity release customers, Age UK
Links: Report | Guardian report
Date: 2010-Jul
A report highlighted the role that local councils played in addressing the housing needs of an ageing society. Housing could contribute to better service integration, better outcomes for older people, and greater efficiency. Addressing the housing needs of older people could substantially reduce the demand for, and cost of, health and social care.
Source: Good Homes in Which to Grow Old? The role of councils in meeting the housing challenge of an ageing population, Local Government Association
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Jul
A report examined the impact of population ageing on housing in Scotland. The main impacts were on changing demands for housing supply and the housing stock; on support for people to remain at home; and on adaptations to housing stock. Each of these types of housing need was projected to rise rapidly as a result of population ageing.
Source: The Impact of Population Ageing on Housing in Scotland, Scottish Government
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Jul
A report examined housing-related support services in Wales. It said that high-quality services were crucial given the vulnerability of users; and, in many cases, support services made a real difference to the quality of service users' lives. Yet defining, measuring, and commissioning for 'quality' were less straightforward in this field than in others. This could make achieving high quality more challenging than in other service areas.
Source: Delivering Quality in Housing-Related Support: Views from the sector, Housemark Cymru
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Feb
A report called for more support to help elderly people remain in their homes. More investment should be focused on preventing hospital admissions and reducing the number of elderly people who had to be cared for in nursing homes.
Source: In Your Lifetime: A vision of housing, care and support for an ageing society, National Housing Federation
Links: Report | NHF press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2010-Jan
The government responded to a report by a committee of MPs on the Supporting People programme (provision of housing-related support services to enable vulnerable people to live independently). It welcomed the report's endorsement of the decision to remove the 'ring fence' from the programme in order to devolve decision-making and control over budgets to the local level.
Source: Government Response to the House of Commons Communities and Local Government Select Committee Report into the Supporting People Programme, Cm 7790, Department for Communities and Local Government/TSO
Links: Response | MPs report
Date: 2010-Jan
