Circular SWSG7/94 5458 - Community Care - The Housing Dimention

SECTION 6 - FUNDING

6.1 Funding for community care housing is often complex, partly because of the diverse needs of different client groups, but mainly because of the frequent need to assemble packages of funding from different sources. This is particularly pertinent to revenue funding, and to housing associations and voluntary bodies. Annex 5 identifies sources of capital and revenue funding available to statutory and voluntary housing agencies, and programmes and projects will often require contributions from several bodies. Bodies should keep in mind the possibility of contributions in kind, such as housing for conversion, or short or long term secondments of staff. Housing plans, housing management plans, community care plans and in future, children's services plans, as well as plans for individual programmes and projects should be clear about how the existing resources, (including transferred resources), are to be allocated in their implementation.

6.2 Housing for community care reflects a substantial investment or commitment by the housing agencies and the houses provided have a life-expectancy of perhaps 60 years. It is therefore essential that long term as well as short term revenue funding is in place to ensure a project remains viable. It is accepted that housing, health and social work authorities have to think carefully before making long term financial commitments; but the need to provide stability, for instance for replacements for long stay hospital provision, must also be kept in mind. Social work, as well as housing bodies, will need to contribute to long term revenue funding. The health boards' contribution will be by way of resource transfers to social work departments generated by the switch from institutional to community care. For their part, voluntary bodies should include in their long term plans realistic assessments of likely void percentages.

6.3 Resource allocations from The Scottish Office will as appropriate reflect the Government's stated objectives, and also the degree to which housing plans, community care plans, and individual projects show evidence of an effective interagency approach, including the allocation of resources.