Agenda item

Report from the Strategic Director for Adult Care, Housing and Health.

Recommendations:

That Cabinet:

1.    Note the decision by Together Housing to permanently close the Resource Centre and the change in type of housing scheme from Extra Care to General Housing.

2.    Approve the permanent change in service delivery to an offsite wrap around care and support service in line with the current delivery model.

Consideration was given to the report which noted that Oaktrees was built as an extra care scheme in 2006, by Together Housing, Housing Association, on land leased for 125 years from the Council with a condition, that it was only used for social housing. Any change of use would need to comply with that condition.

The Scheme comprised a main building (referred to as the Oak Trees Resource Centre) which contained the typical communal facilities associated with an extra care scheme and 8 individual flats.  Adjacent to the Resource Centre were 20 bungalows.

The Resource Centre was closed in 2020 and whilst options were considered ,tenants of the flats and community centre were rehoused. The Together Housing sustainability options appraisal considered 6 options in total before reaching a decision.

It was understood that to remodel or rebuild the resource centre would have proved exceedingly expensive. Section 2.3 of the report indicated there was a high demand for Council housing for those aged 55 with over 12,000 bids in 2021.

A recent survey showed that 13% of tenants made a trigger call at least once a week, 61% indicated they would only make a call in an emergency and 26% had never made a trigger call. It was noted that calls could be readily responded to by Rothercare, and the recommendation was that Adult Social Care continued and provided for those existing tenants who required support, however, this would not apply to new tenants unless there was an assessed need.

The Council had full nomination rights and a number of consultation exercises would be undertaken if approved. Two options had been considered with Option 1 being the preferred option.

The Assistant Director Adult Care and Integration explained tenants had been briefed in August on the proposals and planned changes. Understandably there were some concerns around ongoing support for tenants in the scheme who had adult social care needs so a commitment had been made to complete Care Act assessments for those individuals who may require an increased or more intensive level of support to the wrap around service provision.

The Leader clarified that tenants who were already in place there would continue to receive support in the same way. There would be a change to the building, which was currently out of use.

Resolved: That Cabinet:

1.    Noted the decision by Together Housing to permanently close the Resource Centre and the change in type of housing scheme from Extra Care to General Housing.

2.    Approved the permanent change in service delivery to an offsite wrap around care and support service in line with the current delivery model.