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The supported housing flats that weren’t built

Most new supported housing projects have been put on ice. Alex Turner visits Rochdale for a taste of what’s been lost.  Photography by Darren O’Brien/Guzelian

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The supported housing flats that weren’t built

The Keswick Close street sign is brand new. But the road ends abruptly at two weathered concrete blocks, which guard the entrance to a patch of scrubland where three high rises once stood.

The towers on the Langley Estate in Middleton, north of Manchester, came down in 2010 as Labour’s Pathfinder regeneration programme swept through the area. Some of their residents moved into the shiny flats for over-55s that overlook the vacant land, owned by 52,000-home landlord Riverside.


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Two years ago, councillors at Rochdale, the borough Middleton sits within, approved plans by Riverside for a 101-unit older people’s extra care scheme on the Keswick Close site, completing this section of the redevelopment jigsaw. A three-storey block was envisaged, with pitched roofs and large windows, along with some small terraces of bungalows. It would have provided 82 affordable rent and 19 shared ownership homes.

But those plans, despite being backed by more than £3m of Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) funding, are now on ice. Last month, a survey of 69 housing associations published by the National Housing Federation (NHF) revealed that the organisations were slashing plans for new supported, sheltered and extra care housing, from 8,800 to 1,350 units, because of viability concerns.

Nineteen schemes have been cancelled altogether, while a further 71 – including Keswick Close – have been shelved. Most, if built, would house older people or adults with physical or learning disabilities.

The squeeze on supply follows the government’s decision to cap housing benefit from 2019 at Local Housing Allowance (LHA) levels, which are usually well below supported housing rents. In boroughs such as Rochdale, where private rents are low and more prospective residents depend on benefits, the shortfall is acute. The government has proposed a new system, via which councils will be given top-up funds to help housing providers bridge the gap. But there is no certainty over what money will be available for individual schemes.

“We’ve put three planned schemes on hold [including Keswick Close],” says John Glenton, executive director of care and support services at Riverside. “But, importantly, there are also a number of development opportunities we have not pursued.”

Over the past two years, Mr Glenton adds, Riverside has built five extra care schemes (see box: A community within a community), which offer accommodation with on-site care, as well as facilities for non-residents. “We would have a similar number in the pipeline now if it wasn’t for the risk around the LHA cap,” he says.

A report supporting the planning application for the Keswick Close scheme makes clear the need for such pipelines. Between 2010 and 2031, it says, the number of over-60s in the borough is expected to increase from 43,000 to 58,000.

Extra care schemes aim to deliver a range of options for such older people within a single development. The flats all have their own front door, while communal areas encourage socialising.

Keswick Close is on the Langley Estate in Middleton, north of Manchester
Keswick Close is on the Langley Estate in Middleton, north of Manchester

On-site care means people’s changing needs can be catered for 24/7 – more cost-effectively than if staff were visiting homes dispersed across an estate – and provides peace of mind for relatives. Couples can also remain living together if one partner starts to require more care, rather than having to go into a home.

“Supporting people to remain in their own home is a cheaper option,” points out Alison Halstead, head of retirement living at Riverside. She says it’s a “no brainer” when you compare the rent, less than £150 a week, to the cost of a care home, which comes in at £400 to £1,000 a week, according to the NHF.

Phil Burke, a Middleton councillor who lives on the Langley Estate, describes the Keswick Close development as a “golden opportunity” to allow more people to live independently, while also freeing up some housing for families. “All sections of the community should be able to access services like these,” he says.

Lonely elders

To date, there is only one extra care scheme within the Rochdale local authority area – a 41-home facility that opened in 2015 in Littleborough, 10 miles from Middleton. Not only is it on the wrong side of town, it was also “inundated” with potential tenants when it opened, according to Donna Bowler, assistant director for place at Rochdale Council. Extra care residents typically have to have some assessed social care need; in Rochdale landlords work with the council’s adult services department via an allocations panel to ensure those who will benefit most get housed.

The defunct Millbeck social club
The defunct Millbeck social club

“We have sat down with our adult social care colleagues [to discuss the need for more extra care housing] and got the numbers of people receiving individual support,” Ms Bowler says, adding that there are 1,122 just within Middleton, which has a population of about 46,000. “Then there are the health impacts a scheme like this can help with. As well as [avoiding] falls, there are things like people being lonely, all sorts of softer things.”

A visit to Demesne Community Centre, a short stroll from Keswick Close, brings home the importance of those “softer things”. As we arrive, the centre’s Friday luncheon club is getting underway, with about 20 residents aged from their mid-50s to their late-80s chatting around two tables.

For some it’s their only opportunity to socialise, warns Mal McCall, long-standing volunteer chair of Demesne Action for Residents and Tenants, which is part of the centre. “Some old dears don’t see anyone except at these luncheon clubs,” she says. “There’s nothing left on the estate – it’s all been taken away over the past 10 to 12 years,” Ms McCall adds. She points out the recently closed Millbeck Social Club, which sits shuttered up 100 or so metres from Demesne, by way of example.

Many residents at the luncheon club say they come to the centre four or five times a week – and not only because of its social value. Janice Lloyd, 67, says heating bills are a factor too. “I couldn’t afford [my heating bill] so I’ve been chopping,” she says. “I’m out of the house as much as I can be.”

The flats that weren’t built 2

Demesne Community Centre gives older people the opportunity to socialise

A lot of people we speak to say they now wouldn’t want to move into a hypothetical new flat on a derelict plot. But some complain of problems with cold, damp or inconvenient homes, as well as time and money spent travelling around the estate on buses or in taxis, in order to reach the community centre and other facilities.

Keswick Close’s 101 flats wouldn’t in themselves offer a panacea to Langley residents’ problems, of course. The big issue, Ms Halstead says, is that if the development doesn’t go ahead, Riverside will lose a crucial opportunity to support this “ageing demographic” on the estate, which the association took on in a 2002 stock transfer.

“Think of the community hub, which will support a reduction in social isolation – that will be the biggest shortfall if it doesn’t go ahead.”

Should the scheme be cancelled, the land will most likely be developed as general needs housing, of uncertain tenure and with fewer units.

For now, Riverside and other landlords in similar positions must wait for the government’s next move. A green paper on supported housing was due in spring but has been delayed, and sorting out long-term future funding will take time and be complex, Mr Glenton acknowledges.

“But what we need now is assurances about pipeline schemes,” he says. “Even if you have agreement to build something now, you’re looking at two years, at least, by the time you’ve got planning and have got it operational. This is about not stopping supply in future.”

The flats that weren’t built 3

A community within a community

Last year, Riverside opened an extra care facility in Washington, in the district of Tyne and Wear. Willow Brook (above), which has 79 flats and accommodates more than 100 residents, replaced a derelict nightclub, on land that formerly held the Washington ‘F’ Pit and Miners’ Welfare Club.

Ray Middleton, 75, who was born just a few hundred metres away and now heads Willow Brook’s residents’ committee, tells Inside Housing that he would probably have ended up in a care home had the scheme not been built.

“My old place was a cold, damp council property – I always had a bad chest and couldn’t wait to get out in the morning,” he says. “But [after my wife died] I still used to go days without seeing anybody; now I can see people every day.”

Fellow resident Maureen Enright, 68, has moved into the scheme with her husband, who previously spent time in residential care after being diagnosed with a brain tumour.

“Before we moved in we couldn’t go out together at all; now we’ve got much more independence,” she says. “My family don’t worry so much; they come to visit for quality time rather than having to care for me.”

Residents’ blood pressure, temperature and blood oxygen levels are relayed by staff via a tablet to health professionals, enabling them to pick up any concerns early, with the aim of reducing hospital admissions.

On site there are also facilities including a restaurant, hairdresser and treatment rooms, which have helped the scheme become a focus for local people beyond those who live there. Local councillor John Kelly describes Willow Brook as a “community within a community”.

“It’s been beneficial for people with mobility issues or early stage dementia – it’s a safe, good environment with support on hand,” says Mr Kelly.

“Couples never want to put their loved one into residential care; places like this keep families together, husbands and wives, so [they are] a really useful asset.”

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