Keep sheltered housing tenants sheltered!
10 November 2008
Green Party city councillors have pledged their support to sheltered housing residents in Brighton and Hove.
The Sheltered Housing Action Group (SHAG), which represents tenants in 850 homes across the city, is opposing council plans to reduce the number of on site scheme managers employed, in favour of sticking with the current system.
The council have agreed to look again at how best to reform the system in light of funding cuts being imposed on the service, but have not pledged to stick with the current on site manager set-up.
Cllr Rachel Fryer (left) has called on the Tory council to do what tenants want when it comes to vital front-line support services such as this. She said: "Currently, most sheltered housing scheme managers in the city work 'on-site', supporting residents living in each scheme.
"The council wants to move away from this accommodation-based service towards a new, 'team based' style of support that would see groups of managers in a central office looking after many different sheltered housing sites at a time.
"National and local trends in other areas are towards more personalised care. Tenants have made it clear that they deeply value the personalised care they receive from Scheme Managers.
"Not only is this change hugely unpopular - 92 per cent of sheltered housing residents have signed a petition saying they want to stick with the current system – this model has also been widely condemned by older people's charities such as Age Concern.
"Help the Aged labelled this 'floating' style of support as unfair.
"If the Tory council force through this change, they will be riding roughshod over the wishes of some of the most vulnerable older people in our community.
"Worse still, they will be cutting back on front line services where they are most needed.
"People living in sheltered housing deserve just that – sheltered housing.
"That means regular contact with an on-site warden, not easy to reach alarms, phone calls and the occasional visit from an office based support worker.
"It's essential that, despite central government funding cuts and global economic problems, the council doesn't compromise the quality of service the most vulnerable in our society receive.”
In addition, the Council is proposing to in the long term remove all residential scheme managers (who live on site) despite the wishes of tenants.
Cllr Fryer added: "The council must act with the needs, interests and wishes of the sheltered housing community at its very heart. Otherwise, they risk failing those who need them most."
A representative of the SHAG committee said: "In support of the most vulnerable people in sheltered housing, we feel that it is all our responsibilities to support the current model of traditional on-site, full time scheme managers and improve the delivery of the service."
We have been working with the Brighton and Hove City Council towards this end."
Notes to editors:
Media only: for further information please contact the Brighton and Hove Green Party Press Office on 07931 231390.[ENDS]
