HLINks - Are you missing out on the Housing LIN weekly update?
Welcome to #Jeremytalks and our must-read weekly bulletin, HLINks, week-ending Friday, 30th April 2021.
This week saw the publication of our ground-breaking 'state of the nation' report into how the retirement village and extra care housing sector in England responded to the impact of COVID-19 during the first two national lockdowns. The joint St Monica Trust and Housing LIN RE-COV study, funded by the Dunhill Medical Trust, shows how housing with care operators' quick response to the pandemic controlled the spread of infection in their schemes and kept COVID-19 related deaths at a low, especially at a time when care homes were being hit so hard.
In this week’s HLINks, you can also take a tour of other news and events on later life housing and independent living with regard to homes and communities, health and social care, design and technology, planning matters and more. In particular, we draw attention to a couple of new reports that we think will be of interest. They are one by Places for People and the Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research on understanding supply, demand and investment in the market for retirement housing communities in England and another by Octopus Real Estate into the results of their consumer survey of the potential for retirement housing post the pandemic.
And, staying with Coronavirus, if you missed this, we have teamed up with Appello to undertake a survey to understand if COVID-19 has created a new perception on the use of technology in supported housing and specialist housing. Help us gather evidence on this by having your say before next week's deadline on 6 May 2021. We look forward to analysing all the responses and reporting on the results.
Lastly, our popular HAPPI Hour sessions continue next week with a free webinar on investing in 'care ready' homes for an ageing population. Supported by Winckworth Sherwood, we will be joined by Sir David Pearson, a past ADASS President and co-chair of SCIE's current commission into housing with care.
Check all the latest news and register here to keep in touch with all our 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
Finally, 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
Stay connected and, above all, with lockdown easing, stay safe.
Jeremy
Housing LIN news item
Research project highlights how housing-with-care sector’s response to coronavirus pandemic safeguarded lives of residents and staff
Ground-breaking research into the impact of COVID-19 last year on retirement villages and extra care housing published today. Undertaken by St Monica Trust in partnership with the Housing LIN and funded by the Dunhill Medical Trust, the RE-COV Survey findings make essential reading for the sector. Find out how the sector mobilised quickly to limit the spread of infection, significantly reducing the risk of Covid-19 related deaths in their schemes last year.
The study also highlights the favourable experience of many residents living in Retirement Villages and Extra Care Housing during the pandemic, especially when much of the spotlight was on the crisis in care homes at that time.
Positive outcomes for retirement village and extra care housing residents included high levels of feeling safe, supported, and comforted knowing other people were around, plus enjoyment from organised outdoor activities.
And if you missed yesterday’s HAPPI Hour launch webinar and the presentations by the research team at St Monica Trust, RE-COV advisory board members and a resident from ExtraCare Charitable Trust, Dunhill Medical Trust, a recording will be available from early next week here.
Coronavirus Update
With further easing of Covid-19 restriction rules that came into force this month, check out current the relevant sector guidance on the pandemic on our Coronavirus Info Hub along with a range of Housing LIN practice briefings for the sector and links to other useful information and websites.
Do also post any 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
New report outlines understanding supply, demand and investment in the market for retirement housing communities in England
The aim of this report is to review the existing evidence to provide an understanding of supply, demand and investment in the market for retirement housing communities in England. Written by the University of Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research for Places for People Group, the report looks at in detail the push/pull factors, taking an extensive tour of latest national policy and guidance as well as local practice, demonstrating the case for housing an increasingly ageing population.
Unlocking retirement opportunity in a post-pandemic world
New research by Octopus Real Estate on the future of the retirement living sector shows there is clear appetite for more housing options and this has only increased in light of the pandemic. It highlights the gap between supply and demand for retirement real estate and suggests a need for 2.5million new purpose-built retirement dwellings.
What else caught our interest?
- Institute for Fiscal Studies report: Inheritances and inequality over the life cycle: what will they mean for younger generations?
- Octopus Real Estate news item: Octopus Real Estate, Schroders Real Estate and Elysian Residences form joint venture to secure luxury Berkhamsted retirement village and unveil first project
- Inside Housing article: The sector must adopt a positive, benefits-focused approach to describing older people’s housing
- Society for Companion Animals Study: Pets in Housing Funding grants
- InCommon: Across age lines: a call to action
Design, Construction, Planning and Technology
The future of data-driven social care: How can we harness information to care more proactively?
This ADASS discussion paper, sponsored by the smart technology company Lilli, is focused on the need to utilise data much more effectively within the social and health care system. Interviewed a group of sector experts – including the Housing LIN and people with lived experience of services, commissioners, providers and consultants – to explore these issues further. It outlines how the use of data can reshape the way services are commissioned, moving away from traditional time-and-task models towards outcomes-based ones.
Have your say: Will COVID-19 be the catalyst for greater use of technology in supported housing?
Join us and have your say in this Appello survey to help identify the perceptions towards technology within the sector after operating with COVID-19.
Do you think COVID-19 will be the catalyst for greater use of technology long-term, or has it proved to be just a temporary solution? Do you still see ‘enabling employees to work remotely whilst maintaining property visibility’ to be our top priority, or has our focus shifted?
Please take a few moments to complete this short survey by Thursday, 6th May. By completing the survey, you will also have the option to receive the results, once published in the form of a short report.
What makes great places for people?
This new design guide sets the scene for a new future for communities.
Created by Places for People Group, alongside Arup, it champions ideas for the way we will live, work and play in our neighbourhoods in a post-Covid world based on 6 core principles.
What else caught our interest?
- Opening of the Design Age Institute YouTube film: Introducing the Design Age Institute
- Age Platform Europe web article: Assistive technologies and robots: AGE welcomes the new UN Independent Expert’s report and call for a human-rights approach | AGE Platform
- Digital Social Care resources: Keeping data safe: local support, national webinar and film series
- New Statesman article: Automated assistance: how robots are changing social care
Health and Social Care, Mental Health and Learning Disability
What caught our interest?
- Centre for Ageing Better blog: What happens when we stop relying on women’s unpaid work?
- The Health Creation Alliance paper: Health Creation: How can Primary Care Networks succeed in reducing health inequalities?
Housing and Dementia
APPG on Housing and Care for Older People Inquiry Report
Did you miss this recent APPG Inquiry report? Watch and listen again to the launch of the new report on housing and dementia here and be inspired by Wendy Mitchell as she shares her personal story about living with dementia.
And remember if you missed last week’s HAPPI Hour session on dementia and housing last week, the recording and presentations are now available. And the next session takes place on 20 May 2021, coinciding with Dementia Awareness Week 2021.
Wales
For Welsh government guidance on COVID-19, visit: https://gov.wales/coronavirus
Scotland
We are pleased that Housing LIN will be holding its first Scottish HAPPI Hour on Thursday, 27 May 2021. Registrations will open next week. Check out our events page for details.
What else caught our interest?
And for Scottish government guidance on COVID-19, go to https://www.gov.scot/collections/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance/
Our Spring HAPPI Hour series is now live
Have we got exciting news for you!
Our Spring HAPPI Hour programme is now live and we have some excellent sessions coming up.
We are also grateful to Action Deafness for providing BSL Interpreters to that our upcoming sessions are now accessible to the deaf community.
Following the launch of the recent APPG Inquiry report on housing and dementia, the second of our two HAPPI Hour sessions with Care and Repair England, Foundations and RCOT is taking place on 20 May 2021 (as part of Dementia Awareness Week respectively). Register on our events page for further details.
Before that, next Thursday we are holding a session with Winckworth Sherwood on investing in ‘care ready’ homes with Igloo Regeneration and Sir David Pearson, chair of the government’s social care task force and co-chair of the current SCIE commission into housing with care.
And to coincide with Mental Health Awareness Week on 13 May 2021, our session puts the spotlight on housing and mental wellbeing with the Mental Health Foundation, Look Ahead Care and Support, and Ben Channon, co-founder of the Architects' Mental Wellbeing Forum. We are also working on some exciting webinars for June which we will be announcing in due course, including with Clarion Group on healthy ageing and with Tonic Housing, One Housing, Anchor Hanover and the LGBT Foundation on cohousing and extra care housing for older LGBT communities. Keep an eye out on our forthcoming events webpage for details.
In next week’s HLINks
As highlighted above, next week are hosting a HAPPI Hour with Winckworth Sherwood and guest speaker Sir David Pearson on the current SCIE housing with care Commission. We will also be publishing a guest blog by Two Generations on homesharing and intergenerational living.
The Housing LIN would like to thank Willmott Dixon for their support in producing this newsletter.