South Holland District Council approves new services for Sheltered Housing
Posted on 14 March 2024
On Thursday 29 February, a full meeting of South Holland District Council approved a range of new services for residents in a bid to improve its sheltered housing provision for residents across the District, including: introducing a 'handyperson service', refurbishing community centres, hiring additional Independent Living Officers, working closer with partners to tackle social isolation and much more.
Allowing for time for recruitment, the bulk of the new services are due to roll out slowly in the first week of April. This follows two consultations and a series of focus groups, where tenants have been given the opportunity to have their say on the Council's plan to improve the sheltered housing provision.
The Council has promised to keep both tenants and the community of South Holland updated on the progress to improve the service in the months ahead, as they begin work to upgrade and digitalise the current emergency equipment in properties across the District and create a new response service to act as a third contact and respond to non-emergency calls where tenants initial contacts are unavailable.
Additional personnel will be available to support sheltered housing residents including new Independent Living Officers, a handyperson service and more regular activity sessions at Community Centres delivered with NHS Partners aimed at reducing social isolation and making it easier for vulnerable individuals to access essential public services.
Further 'bricks and mortar' changes will see a raft of modernisation to community centres in South Holland, with the introduction of full fibre broadband internet, digital aerials and digital noticeboards.
Meanwhile, the service will be made more transparent and accessible, by boosting marketing efforts and simplifying service charges.
Councillor Tracey Carter, Deputy Leader and Portfolio Holder for Communities and Operational Housing, said: "I am delighted that as a Council we can start to deliver some huge improvements to our sheltered housing services, helping to support some of the most vulnerable members of our community.
"These improvements have been developed entirely from the feedback we received in consultations and focus groups, we've listened and now we're responding by modernising our community centres, creating easier pathways for tenants to essential services and introducing additional resources.
"We will continue to engage our tenants throughout this process and I look forward to hearing more about positive impact our improvements will make in the months ahead."
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