HLINks - Housing LIN's weekly update at your fingertips

New Housing LIN products

Digital adoption within MHA Communities

In this Housing LIN guest blog, Jonathan Mace, Director of Communities at Methodist Homes (MHA), reflects on how MHA work on combatting loneliness and isolation by focussing on the social benefits of digital technology through their partnership with Barclays and their Digital Eagles programme.

• Read Jonathan's blog

New Inspirational Achievement - Cordage View, Grimsby

Our most recent inspirational achievement is an innovative and resilient project, Cordage View.

Cordage View is an award winning new build apartment block in Grimsby and is leased to Golden Lane Housing. The inspirational development was completed in February 2021 and is now home to 15 tenants with learning disabilities.

Explore Cordage View's key features and learn about the forward-thinking partnerships that facilitated the build.

• Read this Inspirational Achievement

Coronavirus

Check out current and relevant sector guidance on the pandemic on our Coronavirus Info Hub.

You can also find out more about the launch of the St Monica Trust/Housing LIN RE-COV Study, on COVID-19 and its impact on the retirement village and extra care housing sector.

• Find out more

Living with COVID-19 has now been published

The Government’s response has four principles:

• Living with COVID-19: removing domestic restrictions while encouraging safer behaviours through public health advice, in common with longstanding ways of managing most other respiratory illnesses;
• Protecting people most vulnerable to COVID-19: vaccination guided by Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advice, supporting the NHS and social care and deploying targeted testing.
• Maintaining resilience: ongoing surveillance, contingency planning and the ability to reintroduce key capabilities such as mass vaccination and testing in an emergency; and
• Securing innovations and opportunities from the COVID-19 response, including investment in life sciences.

• Living with COVID-19 - Full Document

Housing, Community, Disability, and Ageing

Postdoctoral research associate post

The Open University is looking to recruit a Postdoctoral Research Associate as part of a new 3-year coproduced project, ‘Amar bari, amar jibon’ (my home, my life) that explores diversity and inclusion in later life environments focusing on Bangladeshi elders in East London.

This is an excellent opportunity to work with a dynamic research partnership of academic and community team members from The Open University, Bangla Housing Association (Hackney) and Housing LIN, led by Dr Manik Gopinath (OU).

Deadline for applications: 14th March 2022

• More information and how to apply

What else caught our interest?

• Savills: Spotlight: UK Senior Living
• Commonweal Housing/Local Government Association: Urgent reform in the exempt accommodation sector
• Manchester Urban Ageing Research Group (MUARG): Growing older in Collyhurst
• Housing Design Awards: Enter 2022 Awards, Deadline Extended

Design, Construction, Planning and Technology

TAPPI2: From Principles to Implementation - Weekly updates

As announced in last Friday's HLINks, and elaborated on by Sarah Allport, Head of Communities and Governance at The Dunhill Medical Trust in her coinciding Housing LIN guest blog, a second phase of the TAPPI programme (TAPPI 2) will be launched at the TSA ITEC Conference on Tuesday, 29 March.

Open for applications for a Co-Production and Engagement Partner

To support the delivery of the programme we are seeking applications for a Co-Production and Engagement Partner to work with us and the locality testbeds to ensure the views of people who draw on services both current and future, their families and carers and housing organisations are reflected in the programme and the Framework.

• Apply for funding

What else caught our interest?

• The Economist: Covid has reset relations between people and robots
• Government Events: Tackling Digital Exclusion in Older People
• Legrand: Resetting the digital premium

Health and Social Care, Mental Health and Learning Disability

Have your say! Survey about the proposed social care reforms and our human rights

The Housing LIN has been invited by the National Development Team for Inclusion (NDTi) to share this survey so that members can complete before the end of February.

The survey has been commissioned by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to explore how the proposed social care reforms affect the human rights of people living in England and Wales and to help inform their future strategy.

• Complete Survey

What else caught our interest?

• Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport: Loneliness annual report: the third year
• Think local act person/Local Government Association: Improving Direct Payments Oversight
• Disability News Service: Tens of thousands driven into debt by care charges, new figures show
• Department for Health and Social Care: Social care reform: an independent review by Baroness Cavendish

Wales

Welsh Government £60m boost for Housing with Care Fund

Speaking at the Care & Repair Cymru conference last week, Julie James, Minister for Climate Change has announced a £60m programme per annum to the Housing with Care Fund, administered via Regional Partnership Boards to boost the supply of extra care housing and supported housing. More details to follow. 

• For Welsh government guidance on COVID-19, visit: https://gov.wales/coronavirus

What else caught our interest?

• Llywodraeth Cymru Welsh Government: Written Statement: National Care Service – Expert Group
• Care & Repair Cymru: Managing Better | Help for older people with sensory loss, dementia, or who have had a stroke
• United Welsh: Supporting old LGBTQ+ people
• Older People’s Commissioner for Wales: Joint Statement: Older people are at risk of being left behind in the cost-of-living crisis without additional support from the Welsh Government

Scotland

• For Scottish government guidance on COVID-19, go to https://www.gov.scot/collections/coronavirus-covid-19-guidance/

Events

Watch, Listen & Learn

You are invited to join our forthcoming HAPPI Hours!

This message is to inform you that due to unforeseen circumstances, we have had to postpone the HAPPI Hour - Housing LIN Scotland presents session that was due to take place on Tuesday, 1 March. More details to follow.

Forthcoming HAPPI Hours:

• HAPPI Hour - Launch event: Approaching the end of life in extra care housing: innovating and learning together on Tuesday, 8 March 2022, 3:00pm - 5:15pm
• HAPPI Hour - Forging a new partnership to transform housing and care-tech choices on Tuesday, 22 March 2022, 4:00pm – 5:15pm
• HAPPI Hour - Fire safety in extra care housing on Tuesday, 4 April, 4:00pm – 5:15pm

Previous HAPPI Hours - Recording, presentation slides and chat report available:

• HAPPI Hour - Levelling up our communities: calling for a post-covid vision for housing, care and support 
• HAPPI Hour - Living Well 
• HAPPI Hour - Social Prescribing: it’s a better prescription

Events supported by the Housing LIN

• Habinteg Housing Summit on Wednesday, 2 March 14:00-17:00
• TSA ITEC Conference Monday 28 – Tuesday 27 March 2022. Early bird offer is available until Friday 11th Feb. Please note: The Housing LIN has secured their members a 40% discount on attendance fees at ITEC2022.

In next week’s HLINks

We look forward to publishing a couple of new guest blogs. The first by Sara Livadeas, Head of Operations and Engagement Programmes at Canadian operator Origin Active Living, about their take on the UK later living market and plans for growth.

The second by Sarah Jones, Anchor’s Chief Finance Officer, on their forthcoming report that captures conversations between generations about what people want in terms of housing and care in later life.

The Housing LIN would like to thank Willmott Dixon for their support in producing this newsletter.