Sheltered housing help/information

[Thora]

Does anyone have experience of applying for sheltered housing and what the options are?

The situation is that we have an elderly relative who lives in another part of the country in private rented accommodation. Their home is no longer safe/suitable and they want to move nearer to us. Fairly independent (doesn't need a care home) but poor health and just needs to be nearer family for general support and needs to be in a bungalow/flat with no stairs and accessible bathroom.

We have applied to go on the local housing list. My understanding is that when the housing team review our application (which apparently will take a 4-6 weeks before they look at it) we can then start applying for council sheltered/extra care housing. Not sure how long this will take.

I've done some googling though and have seen there are also private sheltered housing available that would be covered by housing benefit. Does anyone know what the process is here? Can we just choose somewhere we like, move in and apply for HB?

Any experience or advice gratefully received.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

marty21 might be able to advise.

Hope you get something sorted out for your relative.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Can't offer much, but may be worth a look at age uk's website and / or a call to their advice line.

Not entirely clear from opening post whether you and relative would be looking for a place together, or you mean you're looking for somewhere for relative to live.

Not sure how long a wait there might be for council / social housing locally - it will vary from one area to another, and from time to time. Not sure what rules there are about having a local connection - in general terms, you can't usually just decide to move areas and get accepted on the council housing list where you move to, but the circumstances here (moving to be closer to relatives who will be semi-carers) may be different.

If relative is in private rented accommodation now (and on housing benefit?) then i can't see any reason why they can't move to another part of the country and start a HB claim there if they get a new private tenancy. I'm too far out of touch with housing benefits to offer specifics - there are concepts of local housing allowance (as in the maximum amount they will pay) but not sure how this is played where someone has specific needs due to age / disability etc. Some of the crappier bits of the benefits changes (e.g. rolling in to universal credit) were not inflicted on people over retirement age, but i don't know all of it. Age UK's people are likely to know more.

Although having a private tenancy (and therefore being 'adequately housed' locally) may mean they become a low priority for social housing.

May also be worth doing a review of what benefits relative is receiving - might they be entitled to pension credit? have their health / mobility / care needs reached a point where they might qualify for attendance allowance? Again, Age UK have more on both.

Also, housing benefit (as far as I know) won't pay for any service charges on top of the rent, e.g. if there's contribution to a resident warden on site, which some sheltered blocks have.

 

[marty21]

marty21 might be able to advise.

Hope you get something sorted out for your relative.

It's not my area of expertise, I can ask around , other colleagues have way more expertise.

 

[Thora]

Housing near us but definitely not moving in

They have a 'local connection' via us living here for more than 5 years that means they qualify for social housing here.

I think I understand the social housing process - basically we now wait, then possibly have some kind of needs assessment, then bid on suitable properties. I am concerned this might take quite a while though!

I didn't realise private housing covered by housing benefit was an option, so I will look into this a bit more closely. Possibly it could happen quicker if there is something available.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

assuming you can get a landlord to accept someone 'on benefits' (they might be less shitty about someone on a pension than someone working age)

only snag with private renting (and i may be stating the bloody obvious here) is that you only get initial 6 months tenancy then after that it can be 2 months' notice any time the landlord feels like it. obviously some landlords out there are quite content with long term tenants, some see a turnover of tenants as a way to bump the rent up each time and try to stick to some / all of the deposit...

also may be worth seeing if there are any housing associations etc locally, and if so whether any have their own waiting list (some do, some only take nominations off the council's list) - saw something about a scheme locally on the parish council notice board a little while ago, but didn't read it in detail...

 

[Boudicca]

I was looking into this for my 'elderly' friend (he's 70 going on 25 ) and the council website referred me to a couple of local housing trusts which had accomodation specifically for older people. So as Puddy_Tat says, do try housing associations.

I would definitely try for sheltered accomodation as it will allow them to stay independent longer than a private rental. And less worry for you if there is someone keeping an eye out.

 

[Thora]

Yes, definitely looking at sheltered housing.

All the housing associations let through the council, so I’m looking at the possibility of private/charity run sheltered housing as it might be a good bit quicker. Maybe just as a stop gap until we can get social housing through the council.

 

[Boudicca]

duplicate post

 

[iona]

Yes, definitely looking at sheltered housing.

All the housing associations let through the council, so I’m looking at the possibility of private/charity run sheltered housing as it might be a good bit quicker. Maybe just as a stop gap until we can get social housing through the council.

Worth checking if/how this would affect your relative's housing application - already being in suitable accommodation that meets their support needs might mean they'd be given lower priority for social housing than if they were currently living somewhere unsuitable.

 

[marty21]

Housing near us but definitely not moving in

They have a 'local connection' via us living here for more than 5 years that means they qualify for social housing here.

I think I understand the social housing process - basically we now wait, then possibly have some kind of needs assessment, then bid on suitable properties. I am concerned this might take quite a while though!

I didn't realise private housing covered by housing benefit was an option, so I will look into this a bit more closely. Possibly it could happen quicker if there is something available.

I don't think the assessment takes long , and the positive thing about sheltered housing is that they tend to have more vacancies than general needs housing (they do in the LA I work for) . The reason for the more regular available properties is obvious I think.