Modernising Community Care - The Housing Contribution: Page 8

Modernising Community Care - The Housing Contribution

8.0 MANAGEMENT ARRANGEMENTS IN HOUSING WITH SUPPORT

Introduction

8.1 There are a number of issues of particular interest to those involved in managing housing with support. These issues arise both in the context of growing commitment to promoting the concept of independent living, and in creating flexible arrangements so that care and support services can be varied without prejudicing a person's housing.

Tenancy Rights in Supported Accommodation

8.2 The type of agreements offered to those living in supported accommodation has long been the subject of discussion amongst housing providers and social work authorities. Partly because interpretations of the legal position, particularly in relation to the granting of tenancies in accommodation registered with social work, have differed, there has been little consistency in practice. Scottish Homes and Shelter (Scotland) jointly published in April 1999 research on the appropriate use of tenancy agreements in Scotland.

8.3 All housing bodies will wish to take their own legal advice about the appropriateness of different forms of agreement. However, those involved in commissioning or providing supported accommodation should note that: -

there appears to be no legal barrier to tenancy rights in accommodation registered with social work departments, as indicated in The Scottish Office Social Work Services circular of 17 August 1998 on registration guidance (SWSG 11/1998);
occupancy agreements which are frequently used in supported accommodation, particularly registered and shared accommodation, may be construed in the courts as carrying full tenancy rights;
even where occupancy agreements are not construed as carrying full tenancy rights, providers may find that repossession is only possible through legal action;
interpretations of "incapax" and its relevance to granting tenancies vary. Guidance will be issued by the Scottish Executive to clarify arrangements for managing the affairs of people who are "incapax" but it appears that the mental capacity required to understand and agree to a tenancy is not high.

8.4 Written agreements should always be provided to the resident. The expectation is that a tenancy should be offered, unless there are clear reasons to the contrary in line with the following 3 principles: -

principle of normalisation: - people with support needs should have the same tenancy rights as people in mainstream housing;
principle of empowerment: - people with support needs should have the right to make decisions regarding the use and disposal of their accommodation including where accommodation is shared, the right to have a say in the decision about who they share with;
principle of independent living: - this embraces the full range of human and civil rights and should not be diminished by the level of support required for a tenant to achieve independence.

8.5 Circumstances in which some restrictions on the rights of residents may be appropriate include: -

hostels intended for short stay and emergency shared accommodation;
transitional accommodation where the purpose of the accommodation is to provide for a limited, short term period;
leasing arrangements, where the landlord leases from another body. In these circumstances, the agreement needs to acknowledge the existence of the lease, and that the landlord's ability to give a long tenancy may be constrained by the terms of the lease. However, this need not rule out a short assured tenancy.

Providing Tenancy Rights

Link Housing Association provides a range of supported accommodation catering for young people, people with mental health problems, learning disabilities and drug and alcohol problems. Most of their accommodation is registered. Link has a mixture of assured tenancy agreements, short assured tenancy agreements and occupancy agreements.

assured tenancy agreements are used in single and two person shared accommodation;
short assured tenancy agreements are used where the stay is time limited, for example where a young person is preparing for independent living and being funded by social work for a specific period;
occupancy agreements are used in large-scale shared accommodation. Link is gradually converting this provision into independent living units and hence using occupancy agreements less frequently.

To date, Link has not experienced any additional problems associated with providing assured or short assured tenancies. It is acknowledged that giving tenancy rights does entail some potential risk, but this is more than outweighed by the positive reactions of having increased tenancy rights.

Contact: Adam Arnott, Customer Services Manager, 0131 550 3912

Flexible Support Services

8.6 Floating or peripatetic support has been defined in various ways but this term now generally refers to a flexible form of support which can increase or decrease in intensity in response to variations in the residents' needs. It is associated with independent living arrangements where housing and care arrangements are separated, so that care and other support services can be varied without prejudice to the person's housing. This may also apply to housing and other health support services. In many cases, different providers supply housing and support services.

Flexible Support

Eildon Housing Association's housing support service aims to meet the needs of vulnerable people who want to live in ordinary tenancies. It provides additional housing management support to individuals living in self contained mainstream accommodation to enable them to establish and maintain tenancies in the community of their choice.

The support worker in discussion with the tenant, reaches agreement regarding the nature of the additional support that the person requires and a programme for the delivery of that assistance is drawn up.

Whilst a maximum level of housing support is set, the service is designed to provide flexibility so that a new tenant can receive a high level of input initially, which is reduced as the individual acquires skills necessary to manage their tenancy. It is possible for tenants to move in and out of the support service as their needs change.

Where more specialised support is required, people are referred on to the appropriate agency. This can present difficulties for some tenants who prefer that their support needs are met by a single, often non-statutory agency.

Contact: Andrew Secretan, Community Care Manager, 01896 822121

8.7 Features of successful flexible support schemes are: -

good quality information and advice to tenants on the options available. Tenants are often unaware that the level of support can be varied without prejudice to their housing, even where this is incorporated in written agreements;
ongoing review of the support services. This should be a formal and regular review process, for instance, as part of care plan reviews;
systems for ensuring social integration. Recent research amongst users of flexible support schemes found a risk of social isolation amongst some people living in independent living arrangements with support of this type. Avoiding social isolation should be an objective of any flexible support scheme and housing providers along with health, social work and other support providers will wish to discuss the risks of isolation as the scheme is developed.

8.8 Flexible support can have a particularly important role to play in rural areas where special needs projects are less easy to integrate into small or dispersed communities and where the scale of provision required is less.

Flexible Support in Dispersed Communities

The Scottish Association for Mental Health runs an Outreach Support Service in Dumbarton district, an area with dispersed population centred on the towns of Dumbarton, Alexandria and Helensburgh. The three workers are each based in the community. The organisation has a supported accommodation project in Alexandria and this project manager line manages the Outreach Support workers. Structuring the service in this way enable the workers to respond to the needs of the local population and to build up good relationships with users and with other local agencies. The main strands of the support provided include social, emotional and practical support. An evaluation of the service indicated that workers spend 60% of their time in direct contact with service users. Each has a caseload of 25-30 people, most of whom are seen at least once a week.

Contact: Robert Nesbitt, Manager, 01389 726800