Sheltered housing is designed to help older people live independently but securely, knowing help is at hand. It's not an old people's home or a residential care home, but sheltered housing benefits from the support of an independent living officer and an emergency call system.
There are various sheltered housing schemes in our district. Some of these are run by housing associations but we run six schemes ourselves.
Sheltered housing can be kept as private as the tenant wishes, but, when companionship and social contact is wanted, a ready-made community of people of a similar age and with similar interests is right on your doorstep.
Our schemes comprise of purpose-built, self-contained rented flats at the following locations:
- Carlton Lodge, Leeds Road, Harrogate
- Hewitson Court, Stockwell Road, Knaresborough
- Collins Court, High Street, Knaresborough
- Maple Creek, Red Lane, Masham
- Blossomgate Court, Blossomgate, Ripon
- Bondgate Court, Bondgate, Ripon
Who's eligible
Sheltered housing is a type of affordable housing, so it's allocated through the housing waiting list. Once you're on the housing waiting list and a place at a sheltered housing scheme becomes available, you'll be asked to complete an eligibility assessment to identify your needs and the support you require. If the placement is suitable and your needs are not too great, you'll be made an offer of a tenancy.
In all our sheltered housing, there's a weekly charge on top of your rent to cover the extra costs of running the scheme, but, if you're on a limited income, you can normally apply for financial assistance.
Independent living officers
Our sheltered housing benefits from having designated independent living officers.
Their role is:
- to ensure that the appropriate services are in place to enable residents to live as independently as possible, assessing tenants' support needs and developing individual support plans
- to offer advice and information to residents
- to provide help in the event of illness or an accident by acting as a link with the medical and social services and relatives
An independent living officer will normally visit residents each weekday to check all is well. If help is needed at any other time of the day residents can use the emergency alarm system to call them.
Independent living officers don't work 24 hours a day. Outside normal working hours, an on-call duty independent living officer is linked to the call monitoring centre.
No independent living officer, however kind or caring, can ever take the place of family. Family support and assistance often play a vital part in helping relatives to settle in and maintain a normal routine. Friends and family are always welcome to visit and some schemes have accommodation for visitors to stay if necessary.