In a unique partnership two local housing associations, South Northants Homes (SNH) and Daventry & District Housing (DDH) have joined forces to offer improved support for all older and vulnerable people over the next few years.
At a time when local authorities are needing to reduce funding for support services the organisations, which together provide homes for around 6,000 people, have seized the opportunity to work together to ensure support and advice are available across Daventry and South Northants.
It means older tenants in these areas will be able to choose the level of support they need from SNH or DDH from a ‘menu of choice’. This will range from an ‘alarm only’ option, (an emergency contact device) through to having visits from a specially trained officer five days a week. There will be the opportunity to increase or decrease visits in line with their individual needs.
Jayne Roycroft, SNH Retirement Services Manager, said; “Forming a partnership with DDH has meant that funding for both organisations has been secured for a further two years. This has been a new way of working for housing associations in that we have shared all our information and our future direction to work out how we pull together to provide our service in the face of funding cuts.”
“Once the significant funding reductions became clear, it was apparent we would need radical and innovative ways to make sure we still provided support services to the most vulnerable tenants.”
Ciara McMillan, Community & Partnership Manager at DDH, said: “Both organisations are committed to providing good quality housing and support services for older and vulnerable residents, and this partnership is providing a more flexible approach that puts the needs of customers and their communities first.”
SNH and DDH are setting out to build strong community links so that traditional retirement housing schemes can become ‘hubs’ for the local area, with other agencies and professional bodies invited and encouraged to make use of facilities such as internet access.
They will also focus on attracting volunteers to work within the service and encourage staff to become ‘village agents or community champions’.
