HLINks - This week’s essential news, views, resources and upcoming events
Welcome to #Jeremytalks and my weekly piece to audio to coincide with our must-read weekly bulletin, HLINks, week-ending Friday, 22 January 2021.
In this week’s round up, the Later Life Audio and Radio Cooperative (LLARC) released their third interview with one of our #HLINSummit2020 guest speakers. In #HousingMatters, Gerry Foley of LLARC talks to Lifestyle by Engie’s Paula Broadbent about meeting the expectations, aspirations and solutions needed for housing in later life.
And, if you work in retirement villages or extra care housing, St Monica Trust have extended the deadline of the national RE-COV survey to the end of the month. We are keen to hear how your extra care housing or retirement villages have managed during the pandemic.
In this week’s HLINks, you can also take tour of other news and events on later life and independent living with regard to homes and communities, health and social care, design and technology, planning matters and more, including details about the Cabinet Office’s Disability Unit call wanting your views on developing a national strategy to support disabled people in all aspects of their lives. And if you missed the important House of Lords Select Committee’s report on Healthy Ageing and Habinteg’s briefing on their research on accessible homes, both of which came out at the end of last week after we had compiled HLINks, we feature these too.
Check these out and register here to keep in touch with all our news alerts and other notifications of your choice, sent direct to your inbox. 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 in this week’s issue, share learning about your work and/or discuss how you can engage our highly regarded consultancy services to assist you, email ‘Jeremy talks’ at: info@housinglin.org.uk
You can also listen to #Jeremytalks… here
Thanks for listening, stay connected and, above all, be safe during the new lockdown.
Jeremy
Coronavirus Update
With new stronger localised tiered arrangements and national lockdown in place nationally, 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.
Useful guidance & information
- UK Government: COVID-19: guidance for supported living
This guidance is designed to update and build on the previous advice to supported living providers, which was withdrawn on 13 May 2020. - COVID-19 Testing – named contact for authorising Extra Care and Supported Living Settings
People in extra care and supported living settings should now be able to access COVID-19 testing through a self-service portal – a key commitment of the Winter Plan. Registration on the portal needs be approved by the local authority. DHSC therefore needs all local authorities to provide a named contact for this simple process. The portal went live before Christmas, but not all local authorities have yet provided a contact, and in some cases the contact has become unresponsive. To read the guidance, register, to check your registration or to raise any questions about the process, please visit the website or contact: Leanne.tyler@dhsc.gov.uk - Coronavirus: National survey launched to learn from pandemic’s impact on retirement housing sector
As reported last month ahead of the new lockdown announcement, we have partnered St Monica Trust in this extensive piece of research funded by the Dunhill Medical Trust. The deadline for completing the RE-COV survey has now been extended to the end of January. If you manage retirement villages or extra care housing and would like to take part, email us at: research@housinglin.org.uk
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 or information about how you are engaging with residents remotely?
Housing, Community, Disability, and Ageing
Cabinet Office’s Disability Unit Survey
The Cabinet Office is developing a National Strategy for Disabled People with publication expected this spring.
To help the government with understanding the barriers that disabled people face and what it may need to focus upon to improve the lives of disabled people, they are seeking the views people with disabilities to know more about their experiences.
If you are a disabled person, a carer or parent or as someone who has an interest in disability issues, please complete the online survey by 13 February 2021. The survey is also available in other formats.
House of Lords Science and Technology Select Committee report: 'Ageing: Science, Technology and Healthy Living'
Published on Friday last week, this new Select Committee report found that the Government needs to urgently address the key issues of reducing health inequalities, implementing health system reforms and promoting lifestyle changes for an ageing population.
Housing Matters - Episode 9: Housing LIN with Gerry Foley and Paula Broadbent
In this latest episode of #HousingMatters, following the Housing LIN's Summit 2020, journalist Gerry Foley talks with Lifestyle by Engie’s Paula Broadbent about meeting the expectations, aspirations and solutions needed for housing in later life.
Opinion pieces and blogs
- Central & Cecil feature: Winter Watch: Stay safe, warm & connected. Capturing the experiences with isolation and loneliness during the pandemic
- International Journal of Environmental Health and Public Health article: Beyond Housing: Perceptions of Indirect Displacement, Displacement Risk, and Aging Precarity as Challenges to Aging in Place in Gentrifying Cities
- B24/7: The cohousing projects that are reducing social isolation in Bristol
Design, Construction and Technology
A Forecast for accessible homes 2020
This new briefing by Habinteg Housing Association reveals that over half of English local housing policies still failing disabled & older people. Its research shows that, in the next 10 years, 70% of all new homes will still not have to meet any accessible housing standards.
The Future Homes Standard: changes to Part L and Part F of the Building Regulations for new dwellings
The government hosted a public consultation from 1 October 2019 to 7 February 2020 on proposed changes to the Building Regulations. This is the government response to that consultation.
Housing Design Awards 2021
We are proud to sponsor these awards organised by Design for Homes and, in particular, draw attention to designing a range of HAPPI-inspired, beautifully designed housing that meets the needs and aspirations of an ageing population. To take inspiration from HAPPI and past winners, view our dedicated design hub webpage.
Inside Housing Development Awards 2021 - Housing for Older People category
Ocean Media have opened entries to celebrate the very best residential developments across the UK from the past two years, including housing developments for older people. The deadline for entries is 18 February 2021.
Opinion pieces and blogs
- Tunstall Healthcare blog: A great Response
- ExtraCare Charitable Trust blog: Older People exploit technology to combat lockdown loneliness
- Invisible Creations feature: Jean's Story and vlog: In conversation with Invisible Creations
Mental Health, Learning Disability, Health and Social Care
Career opportunities: Understanding the opportunity to develop the health and care workforce together
This White Paper commissioned by The Regenda Group examines how housing organisations can work with health and care organisations to alleviate workforce issues.
Call for papers for Special Issue on Intermediate Care
The Journal of Integrated Care is preparing a Special Issue on Intermediate Care. Their call for papers is now open with submission deadline by 30th April 2021. For details on submitting a research paper, case study or review on your experience of designing, commissioning, delivering, enabling or evaluating transitional and intermediate care services, click on the link below.
St Christopher’s Hospice toolkit launch
Join the virtual launch of the ground-breaking guide, 'Do You See Us?', on 28 January, a resource designed to help identify and support one of the most vulnerable groups in our society – people with No Recourse to Public Funding (NRPF), both at St Christopher’s and across the UK.
Housing and Dementia
Home Adaptations for Housing Association Tenants: Survey of Local Authorities
Foundations are working with Habinteg and Anchor Hanover on a new guide for working with housing associations on adaptations. They need the views of people working in local authority private sector housing/environmental health teams and HIAs.
And the final session of the APPG on Housing and Care for Older People’s Inquiry into the housing experiences of people living with dementia tool place last month week. We are now pulling together the evidence presented and submissions received to produce an Inquiry report for the APPG launch next month.
Wales and Scotland
Wales
For Welsh government guidance on COVID-19, visit: https://gov.wales/coronavirus
Scotland
Scottish government guidance on COVID-19 can be found at https://www.gov.scot/collections/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance/
This week, we are also pleased to be part of the inaugural Advisory Board of Stirling University’s new research, INVITE: Promoting Inclusive Living via Technology-Enabled support. We look forward to sharing progress of this exciting project
Events
Preparing our Spring HAPPI Hour series
We are now working on a new HAPPI Hour programme and look forward to sharing our full Spring schedule of webinars in the coming weeks. However, you can already sign up to our first 2 HAPPI Hours of the year below.
HAPPI Hour - The future role for Almshouses in shaping local communities
Taking place on Thursday, 28 January 2021, and in association with Winkworth Sherwood, we will be joined by the authors of last week’s Housing LIN blog and recent RICS report along with sector leaders from the Almshouse Association, leading architects’ practices and a community land trust to consider the future of Almshouses and explore community-shaped housing for older adults.
HAPPI Hour - Community-led housing: resilient communities
Taking place on Thursday, 25 February 2021 we will focus on community-led housing. We are currently finalising the full programme, but bookings are already open below.
Supporting people with learning disabilities at the edges of social care in social housing and the private rented sector
The University of Bristol and the University of York are conducting a research to understand the ways that people with learning disabilities who are on the edges of social care can be better supported to access and enjoy living in their own tenancies in the community, when this is their choice.
To provide evidence and to share understanding about the housing circumstances of people with learning disabilities, research partners, the Housing LIN and Learning Disability England, are organising a series of regional virtual roundtable events during January and February 2021.
In next week’s HLINks
And, in next week's news, we look forward to publishing the findings from last year’s survey on working from home with the Work Home Project. And if you haven’t already signed up, register for our free HAPPI Hour session on Thursday afternoon next week.
Lastly, the Housing LIN would like to thank Willmott Dixon for their support in producing this newsletter.