Read HLINks to unlock our weekly round-up of our latest sector news, views, resources and events
With lockdown now in place, welcome to #Jeremytalks and my weekly piece to audio where we unlock the latest news updates in our FREE weekly bulletin, HLINks, week ending Friday, 6 November 2020.
Ahead of the national lockdown in England and the restrictions put in place from Thursday, earlier this week we joined 60 other organisations in signing up to NCF’s open letter to the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, the Minister for Care and DHSC officials calling for the default position to be that care homes are open for visiting which has been partly been addressed subsequently in the latest COVID regulations on care homes.
In exciting news, following in the footsteps of the HAPPI ‘care ready’ design principles and a growing interest in how new and emerging technologies can enable independent living at home, Dunhill Medical Trust are supporting a new Housing LIN Inquiry. The Technology to aid an Ageing Population: Panel for Innovation, also known as TAPPI, will officially kick off next month. Watch this space!
On the publication front, we released a new guest blog by Frances Wright, a resident of the award-winning Cambridge Cohousing development at Marmalade Lane, on how residents have coped living in cohousing during the pandemic.
And in this week’s HLINks, you can also read our curated round-up of other relevant news and events on later life living with regard to homes and communities, health and social care, design and technology, planning matters and more, including the HoME Coalition’s new Resource Pack to help anyone who is preparing to respond to the government’s consultation on accessible housing.
Check this out and register here to keep in touch with all our news alerts and other notifications of your choice, sent direct to your inbox, including details about our week long, virtual #HLINSummit2020 on w/c Monday, 7 December to coincide with the first ever #HAPPIweek. And remember you can also follow us via our Twitter feeds: @HousingLIN, @HousingLINews and @HLINConsult
Lastly, if you would like to talk to us about any matters highlighted, share the learning about your work with other Housing LIN members and/or discuss how our consultancy services can assist you and your organisation, email ‘Jeremy talks’ at: info@housinglin.org.uk
You can also listen to Jeremy talks… here
Best wishes, stay safe and, above all, keep connected.
Jeremy
New Housing LIN resources
New Inquiry: Technology to aid our Ageing Population: Panel for Innovation
We are delighted to announce that the Housing LIN will be hosting a new Inquiry, supported by the Dunhill Medical Trust (DMT), called TAPPI – Technology to aid our Ageing Population: Panel for Innovation.
To coincide with DMT’s rebrand and chaired by Professor Roy Sandbach (former Director of the National Innovation Centre for Ageing), the TAPPI Inquiry will follow in HAPPI’s ‘care ready’ footsteps and engage with thought leaders, leading technologists, researchers, policy makers and practitioners over the coming months in a series of virtual hearings and visits, to develop a benchmark for what ‘good’ looks like in technology for housing and care for an ageing population.
The Common House is still quiet
This new Housing LIN guest blog, written by Frances Wright, resident of Marmalade Lane, an intentional community in Cambridge, details her experiences of living in a community designed for community interaction during the pandemic.
Have your say - Take part in this survey on Adaptations Without Delay
In partnership with RCOT, we have now devised this short survey and are interested to know how Adaptations Without Delay is being used by personnel involved in the home adaptation process, and whether the guide has been of benefit to you, your service and your service users. With a week to go, please take part and have your say by 5pm next Friday, 13 November 2020. It should take no longer than 5 - 10 minutes to complete. Don’t delay!
Coronavirus Update
With a national lockdown and new restrictions in place in England until 2 December, check out our Coronavirus Info Hub for the latest government guidance, a range of Housing LIN practice briefings for the sector and links to other useful information and websites.
However, in short, the new guidance on restrictions includes:
- Stay at home order with exceptions for work purposes, childcare, education, medical or social care activities
- Preventing the mixing of people you do not live with
- Closing certain types of businesses and venues
- It now states that those at risk to COVID-19 are those 'over 60 or clinically vulnerable'
- A note has been added that guidance on care home visits
- The Furlough Scheme has been extended
National lockdown must not include locking out care home visitors
With regard to visiting residents in care homes, the Housing LIN joined a coalition of over 60 organisations, brought together by the National Care Forum, this week in signing an open letter today to Matt Hancock, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and Helen Whately, Minister for Care. We called on the government to ensure that care homes are supported to enable visits by families and loved ones, now and in the future. The letter calls on the government to adopt this position in any new regulations it is drafting for the care sector to cover the national lockdown and the aftermath.
In addition
- DHSC: New guidance to support safe care home visits during lockdown
- DHSC & PHE: Guidance on shielding and protecting people who are clinically extremely vulnerable from COVID-19
- scie: Providing care and support at home to people who have had COVID-19
- NHF: The autumn national lockdown - our initial analysis and next steps
- MHCLG: Jenrick launches 'Protect Programme': the next step in winter rough sleeping plan
Lastly, do post or reply to questions on our discussion forum. It allows you to share information, raise issues and ask questions to solve a tricky issue. For example, can you share your organisation’s COVID-19 risk plan under the 2nd lockdown or information about how you are engaging with residents remotely?
Housing, Community, Disability, and Ageing
Charities and housing organisations call on public to back proposals for better homes
As part of The Housing Made for Everyone (HoME) coalition, we are calling for urgent action to tackle the UK's accessible housing crisis by raising the mandatory building standards in response to the government's current consultation on accessible design. To aid responses to this consultation, the Coalition have produced a guide and template for your to follow when crafting your response. The deadline for submissions is 1 December 2020.
Centre for Ageing Better resource library
The Centre have launched a new resource library on healthy ageing which contains a carefully curated selection of hundreds of reports, research paper, toolkits and articles around the themes set out in the government’s Industrial Strategy Challenge on Healthy Ageing. The Housing LIN were pleased to be commissioned, along with the King’s Fund and the CPA, to help compile this new library taking a lead on three of the themes, including designing for age-friendly homes.
In other News
- Centre for Ageing Better report: An Age Old Problem
- MHCLG announcement (reminder): New funding and guidance to improve housing support for vulnerable people
Opinion pieces and blogs:
- AnchorHanover blog: Showing & Telling: Partnership Working in Film
Design, Construction and Technology
ADASS and TSA launch Commission to explore role of technology in a reformed social care system
We are proud to participate in this new Commission to make recommendations to government, the health, care and housing sectors and the technology enabled care (TEC) industry on the role of digital in a reformed adult social care systemReporting in March 2021, the Commission will launch its final report, which will include a series of practical recommendations to central and local government on how to scale up and mainstream the use of everyday devices, data insights and specialist technology to extend people’s healthy lifespans and enrich their lives. We look forward to feeding in our TAPPI findings into this Commission.
In other News
Opinion pieces and blogs
- APPG AT article:Disabled people must be a key part of the levelling up agenda
- Circle Policy Brief: ‘The Potential of Technology in Adult Social Care’
- Metro article: When spaces are made accessible for disabled people, everyone benefits
Dementia, Mental Health, Learning Disability, Health and care
- Open University survey: Improving the support for older people with learning disabilities and behaviours
- Habinteg: Mental health support is available during Covid-19
Housing and Dementia
The 3rd session of the APPG on Housing and Care for Older People’s Inquiry into the housing experiences of people living with dementia to took place last week. The final session will then take place in December before the final report launch event in February 2021. Lord Best also spoke about the Inquiry at this week’s ‘Dementia Inclusive by Design’ virtual conference.
While the APPG’s current call for evidence is formally closed, do email us any examples of innovative practice at: dementia@housinglin.org.uk
Planning
Planning tracker
Older People’s Care Development – Local Development Plan Monitoring
In association with Tetlow King Planning, this document monitors current local authority planning consultations that may be of interest for those seeking to develop housing for older people. The tracker is updated fortnightly.
Wales
Welsh government guidance on COVID-19 can be found at: https://gov.wales/coronavirus
In other News:
- Joseph Rowntree Foundation: Poverty in Wales 2020
And following our excellent Housing LIN Cymru HAPPI Hour session this Tuesday on social, environmental and digital inclusion with the DICE Project, United Welsh and Quattro design, you can watch/listen again and download the slides below.
Scotland
Scottish government guidance on COVID-19 can be found at https://www.gov.scot/collections/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance/
In toher News:
Events
Housing LIN Summit 2020
Our annual conference is back on and we have already reached over 500 participants!
Spread across the week of 7-11 December, there are ten free HAPPI Hour sessions with two must-join topical sessions each day to choose from celebrating outstanding innovation, latest research findings, leading practice developments and sector thought-leadership, including a look at the sector transformation that has taken place over the last 9 months as a result of Covid-19. And because it’s virtual, places are unlimited. You can now choose as many of the sessions as you want to go to.
Browse Housing LIN Summit 2020 programme and select your choices below:
HAPPI Awareness Week
And to coincide with Summit 2020, we are also designating the week as the first ever #HAPPIweek. We want to further raise awareness over the 5 days about the virtues of designing ‘care ready’ accommodation and age-friendly housing services. We are delighted that Lord Best has agreed to kick the week off with guest blog looking back to the first HAPPI report 12 years ago and to outline his thinking of what’s in store for the next dozen!
Join us for HAPPI Hour
We are sad to report that our autumn #HAPPIHour programme has now called last orders. We are now working on our rescheduled annual conference in December but look forward to reopening up our popular HAPPI Hours for you in the New Year. We have an exciting programme ahead.
Other events
We are pleased to be involved/support the following virtual events:
- ARHM virtual annual conference: Taking Retirement Housing forward in the 21st Century - 02/11/2020 till 04/11/2020
- Healthy Ageing: Vision for our Futures - 02/11/2020 till 30/11/2020
- Later Living: the role of technology in the later living sector - 03/11/2020 9:30am till 10:15am
- Social Care Future event - Towards a Brighter Future - 04/11/2020 till 06/11/2020
- APPG on Housing and Care for Older People meeting - 09/11/2020 4:30pm)
- CIH Eastern Housing Summit - 10/11/2020 till 11/11/2020
- The Housing 21 Dementia Design Event - 04/11/2020 10:00am till 3:15pm
- Later Living: Building for life – planning for a HAPPI life - 10/11/2020 9:30am till 10:15am
- HRF Academic Conference - Happy Homes, Happy Society? - 12/11/2020 till 13/11/2020
- SHMA Talks: Future proofing Later Living - 17/11/2020 4:00pm till 4:45pm
- West Sussex Housing Partnership event - 20/11/2020
- Northern Housing Consortium: FROM STABILISATION TO INNOVATION: Future Proofing TEC across Health, Housing & Social Care - 24/11/2020
- Healthy City Design 2020: International Congress & Exhibition - 30/11/2020 9:00am till 03/12/2020 5:00pm
Next week
We look forward to promoting a new blog on Cohabitas by Nick Henley and also reporting on the National Housing Federation’s recent #HomesattheHeart campaign. We also contributed to a new ADASS briefing which is due out next week. Sponsored by Home Group it covers the system challenges and opportunities for building the right home for people with a learning disability or autism.
Lastly, the Housing LIN would like to thank Willmott Dixon for their support in producing this newsletter.