New Housing and Dementia Forum will help create better lives for people living with dementia

The University of Stirling and Chartered Institute of Housing (CIH) welcome a new National Housing and Dementia Forum by the Scottish Government to improve housing and create better lives for people living with dementia.

To ensure that every person living with dementia gets the support they need, this focus will bring together stakeholders from architecture, housing associations and the third sector. This collaborative approach will help ensure that good practice and recommendations are shared for long-term policy changes.

Many housing organisations and staff are already providing excellent services for people with dementia. However, we know that lack of awareness and understanding, a complex and unequal system for accessing the right housing or adaptations and lack of partnership working between organisations are all creating additional barriers for people to navigate at an already difficult time.

Co-chair Ashley Campbell, Policy and Practice Manager at CIH Scotland

Meeting four times a year, evidence from expert practitioners and people with lived experience of dementia will form the basis of a report due to be submitted in early 2022 to help inform policy and create better links between housing, health and social care.