Creating a future idea for 21st century housing

My boss asked me if I had any ideas for this

http://www.24housing.co.uk/news/15m-up-for-grabs-to-transform-communities/

This was my stage 1 response.

Creating a future idea for 21st century housing

 

What makes Peabody different (from our mission statement)

We have three key areas which distinguish us from other organisations:

  • We put the most vulnerable first
  • We create great places at scale, where people want to live
  • We build resilience in people and communities

 

 

Housing challenges for the 21st century will include

More vulnerable people with mental health issues placed in social housing

More elderly without family nearby or willing to help them

Most developments with tenants paying different rates depending on if they are buying the property, market rent etc.

The larger the organisation gets the increasingly more difficult it gets to provide co-ordinated and holistic services on the ground

 

Modern Society does not want to be accountable. They want freedoms and benefits without responsibility. Governments in the future are unlikely to be able to provide the level of health, social and economic support people expect.

 

Accountable developments (groups of 30-50 properties)

 

Ground floor flats built for people with mobility problems and used for the elderly/ infirm max 8

Active Young Student/Work Starter one bed studio flats at affordable rates in return for shopping/ calling in on vulnerable.  Available on one year renewable contracts for a maximum of 3 years for those aged 20-30. Max 4  WOULD NEED GUIDELINES e.g no hours community service expected, would be an add on to social care – would report in to Family & Tenant Support.  Get personal & collective support from Youth team.

Caretaker property – free rent to family with working person with practical skills who will caretake, deal with small repairs and co-ordinate with Peabody central repairs. Max 1  would need a cleaning equipment storage.  Have a caretaker supervisor per Borough/ region.  Yearly tenure renewable.  Could stay in situ paying rent beyond the contract IF another suitable caretaker flat became available.

The socially conscious Tenant Leader takes on the role of TA Chair/Treasurer.  Reports in and is accountable to Borough group.  Tenant leaders take the role for no more than 3 years.  Given a service charge/ rent reduction for the role.

Health care essential worker Block Health Specialist would be aware of any tenant & family support concerns and feed-back centrally. As above, service charge/ rent reduction.

Secretary/admin –welcomes new tenants and takes on low level NM role.  Dissemination of Peabody updates.  Looks after noticeboards.  Collates and deals with low level complaints. 3 year renewable up to 15. Reports in to Housing.

These roles make up the local TA and meet monthly.

 

The Borough group (800 – 1000 properties up to 20x accountable developments) takes responsibility for a community venue. They would also employ local community gardeners depending on how much garden space there was.

 

Requests for allocations come in centrally and developments ‘interview’. Once roles come up those willing to fulfil those roles will take priority.  People would not have to leave their properties after the 3 years other than the Active Young role and possible the caretaker.

None of these roles would replace statutory services such as social care, but help ‘fill in the gaps’ and provide something more ‘human and kind’ than services fulfilled by strangers. We already know that caretakers do shopping for the elderly which they are not supposed to do, but these are regular and familiar faces the elderly on our estates trust.

Young people need security of accommodation.

TAs in their current form are not working. In many cases they are elderly and are unlikely to be replaced.

The money to pay for this would come from savings on staff hours

  • Numerous aborted repairs visits when trades people turn up and are the wrong person for the job or don’t have the right equipment.
  • Huge problems on estates caused by tenants with mental health problems who intimidate and terrorise their blocks & the lengthy process of evidence required to evict them.
  • Groups of people placed on estates with similar problems e.g. domestic violence who then aggregate and create bigger problems and Neighbourhood Managers have no control over who is placed there.
  • Difficulty in finding anyone to take a community leadership role.
  • Young people not being sufficiently valued in our communities.
  • Integration and increased understanding between old and young.
  • Giving greater powers to communities to find solutions to their own issues.