Introduction
Every decision about people’s care needs is also a decision about housing. As far as possible, we aim for preventative care and support which enables as many people with care needs as possible to live at home, or a place that they call home.
The right accommodation is crucial to people’s health and well-being; conversely, lack of access to the right accommodation leads to poorer outcomes for people, and potentially avoidable costs for public bodies including both County and District and Borough Councils and the NHS. These costs may relate to admission to care homes, homeless and rough sleeping, unemployment, and hospital admissions.
A strategic objective for the County Council’s Health and Care Directorate is to maintain a market for care and support that offers good services at an affordable price and ensures best use of resources, people, data, and technology.
We also have an ambition to take a strength based approach which helps people identify their own personal strengths, the assets around them and helps them to draw on these to develop greater resilience and maximise their independence.
The County Council is responsible for adult social care for Staffordshire’s residents. The eight Borough and District Councils are the local Housing Authorities. All the local authorities work together to aim to ensure that Housing with Care is available for residents.
The eight boroughs and districts have many diverse characteristics. Different patterns of Housing with Care will be needed in each area.
In Staffordshire we are committed to working in partnership across the county council, borough and district councils and housing providers with the aim of equitable access to Housing with Care, developing the right services in each borough and district, so that Housing with Care that is provided in the right place, offering people the chance to connect with their community and local services, and meeting the needs of people with differing incomes so that they can access the accommodation they need.
Aims and objectives
Aim - By 2029 we aim for all adults who require it to have a choice of good quality Housing
with Care, and for there to be an improved transition pathway for young people with Housing
with Care needs. This strategy sets out how the local authorities will work with existing and
new partners to ensure the quality of existing schemes and to develop new Housing with Care
schemes where required.
1. The objectives of the Strategy are:
- To have a sufficient supply of Housing with Care for adults in Staffordshire
- To provide for easy and equitable access to Housing with Care
2. Our priorities are:
- To develop and maintain a strong partnership to ensure a collective understanding of housing with care requirements and oversee developments.
- To stimulate the development of housing with care to meet growth in demand.
- To ensure good quality and consistent information and advice about housing with care as well as integrated and streamlined pathways for access.
- To ensure good quality care and support in housing with care schemes.
We will achieve our objectives through the co-production of detailed partnership delivery plans for each of the key areas set out within this Strategy.
We already have some excellent examples of Housing with Care for adults in our county (see Section 4), but with our ageing population, it is important to have a sufficient supply of the right property and the right care and support in the right places.
For working age adults who have Housing with Care needs, we are aiming to develop a diverse range of Housing with Care options that can meet a range of levels of need, and that can support people to live as independently as possible.
For our young people with Housing with Care needs, we will help them to shape what they would want of their future homes, as they move into their adulthood, working with all partners as they transition from child to adult.