PHILADELPHIA: All of us want to stay in our own homes as long as we can as we get older. It’s good for us and it saves on the cost of residential care.
But how can we create homes that enable people to live independently while remaining safe and supported? Here are five tips for creating better supported housing:
4. Don’t go it alone
Creating homes for older people brings the need for partnership work into sharp focus. That means working with commissioners, local authorities and funding bodies, but also, of course, involving community ventures, charities, health bodies and residents’ carers and families.
Many new schemes for older people include communal facilities like restaurants and shops. Too often, these facilities tend to be planned around some vague idea of what you think residents will need. But you need to work with everyone to establish where there is genuine need. Take advantage of existing community ventures and other local voluntary groups and ask them to help run shops, groups and events at your schemes – they are often very keen to be involved.