Many different models for these ‘housing with care’ (HWC) schemes have been developed by more than 300 providers across the public, voluntary and private sectors, and innovation continues. The three reports that have been published this autumn – Affordability, Choices and Quality of Life in Housing with Care; Whose Responsibility? Boundaries of Roles and Responsibilities in Housing with Care; and Supported Housing For Older People in the UK – highlight different ways of working in HWC, and make very practical recommendations based on the implications of the research undertaken by their eminent authors.
HWC aims to bring the provision of housing support and care together (literally) under one roof, and this can offer many benefits to older people with high support needs. However, the schemes also operate in a complex funding and regulatory environment, which, compounded by the lack of a single agreed model of HWC provision, has in some cases led to situations wherein scheme providers are delivering different services alongside each other.
Aimed at HWC managers and frontline staff, commissioners and senior managers in housing organisations and social services, health workers, and older people and their relatives/carers, these three reports identify key topics in housing with care that could benefit from improvement, summarise what older people and their relatives say they value in housing with care, and present practical examples. These are the first UK-wide studies to explore the impact of this complexity on residents’ quality of life.