Major capital gains for housing, care and support is a significant boost
Norman Lamb, Care and Support Minister, has announced the successful bids from Phase One of the Department of Health's Care and Support Specialised Housing Fund (CSSHF).
Administered by the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and the Greater London Authority (GLA), he outlined that 121 projects will receive a share of the CSSHF to improve the housing for disabled and older people, amounting to over 3,500 new homes (669 in London and a further 2,875 across the rest of England). In particular, he drew attention to the fact that most people want to be independent in their own home and, as the population ages, more and more of us will need housing that can facilitate care and support. For more, view the DH press release (opens new window)
Despite ongoing pressures in the residential housing market, the CSSHF was significantly oversubscribed, demonstrating the latent demand for specialist housing. The assessment criteria included innovative design - capturing the qualities called for by the recent HAPPI report. The full list of CSSHF schemes overseen by the HCA and GLA can downloaded below:
- HCA - CSSHF schemes (xlsx - 19Kb) (opens new window)
- GLA - CSSHF schemes (pdf - 76Kb) (opens new window)
Jeremy Porteus, Director of the Housing LIN welcomed the news: "this is a significant boost to the specialised housing market and sets out a longer term vision for closer integration across housing, health and social care. It will not only give confidence to the sector that innovative specialist housing is an important component of any new development portfolio but, above all, will provide greater choice for older people and those with care and support requirements to secure the accommodation they so desperately need. We look forward to working with the housing, care and support partnerships delivering this ambitious programme."
The Housing LIN is also pleased to announce that built into the conditions of grant, and as set out in the DH's Prospectus, it is tasked with the responsibility for sharing lessons and information and knowledge exchange, including keeping a record of all completed DH funded schemes on its online scheme directory. The current DH funded scheme directory can be viewed here
For those of you interested in Phase Two of the DH Fund, Expressions of Interest closed on 15 March and a further announcement is expected on how the HCA and GLA will be taking this phase forward.
We will bring you details on this phase as soon as we have any news. Watch this space!
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