Award winning Project Independent Living

When Property Care was approached by South Staffordshire Housing Association to help improve its services to people with mobility issues we were only too pleased to help.

Our ability to work efficiently within budgets and deadlines, resulted in the Association being the overall winner of the National Housing Federation’s Neighbourhood Awards for its Project Independent Living.

Since it started in 2005, PIL has helped over 1,000 people to live independently in their own homes and provided the community with a stock of adapted homes for the future. It has done this with the help of Property Care.

Innovation

People with disabilities who want adaptations to their home, have to be assessed by social services, their applications approved and means tested by the local authority, and finally the adaptations are fitted by their landlord. To add to the frustration, applications, assessments, commissioning work and fitting equipment are often done by different agencies. Applicants don’t know where they are in the system or who they should be chasing for information. Realising that tenants were waiting for up to two years for adaptations to be fitted in their homes, South Staffordshire Housing Association talked to its residents to see if there may be a better way. They looked at the number of agencies involved, the way resources were used and allocated and the process used for allocation. Then they approached the local authority, with new ideas.

Performance

Now South Staffordshire Housing Association is the first and only point of call for applicants. They fund an occupational therapist and as well as doing assessments for major adaptations, she has trained a range of staff in assessing for minor aids.

This has cut waiting times from up to 12 months to just seven days, with major adaptations now usually completed within around three months rather than approximately two years. Applicants know who to speak to at every stage and funding has been streamlined. In partnership with the local authority and Property Care major adaptations are now delivered for approximately £4,200 each as opposed to £7,000, a 40% reduction.

Quality

While some adaptations must be tenant specific allowing for their height and particular needs, others are universal, like ramps or level access. The Association now has a pool of housing stock with universal adaptations which can be used by older people with mobility issues; as well as for younger families who need to use pushchairs; and for those who have mobility issues following illness or a sports or industrial accident.

Positive results

The proportion of people aged over 65 is set to rise to nearly 20% by 2012 and the incidence of stroke and heart disease is rising across residents in social housing. The need for aids and adaptations is therefore rising too. For SSHA Project Independent Living (PIL) means that for South Staffordshire Housing Association:

• There is now no waiting list for minor adaptations for our tenants;
• Minor adaptations, like grab rails, can be installed within just 7 days;
• Major adaptations, like ramps and walk-in showers are installed in a maximum of three months;
• Residents have clear information about who is responsible for the work and how they can be contacted;
• Tenants are involved in every stage of the planning process;
• The overall increase in adapted stock has reduced the ongoing demand and tenants now have a greater chance of being moved into an adapted home should they need one in the future; and
• Customer satisfaction ratings are now 100% for major adaptations and 98% for minor aids.

Working with Us

A 10-year plus track record, highly motivated staff and high customer satisfaction levels makes Staffordshire Property Care a safe pair of hands for anyone seeking a repairs, refurbishment or caretaking partner.

If you are interested in working with us call Ralph Middlemore, Director of Property Services: 01785 312312 or email: enquiries@propcare.co.uk