Local authorities face a major challenge in providing accommodation for elderly people, many of whom prefer to live at home in their own communities rather than in residential homes. Melinda Phillips looks at some possible solutions Working in local government can be difficult and confusing, as well as rewarding. Ongoing policy changes, complex rules and ever-present budget constraints create problems that we are all familiar with. When it comes to housing and care for older people, local authorities have a lot of work to do to meet the growing challenge. Many older people want to stay in the areas where they have lived all their lives, where they can make a contribution and remain active participants in society. Set this against the backdrop of the government drive for health services in the community and the need to modernise residential care homes to bring them up to national minimum standards, and the true size of the challenge begins to emerge. The starting point has to be finding ways to meet need, and partnership working with organisations such as registered social landlords provides a key route to achieving this. Housing 21 was recently confirmed as preferred bidder for a public-private partnership project with Walsall MBC worth £165m to provide housing and care over a 30-year period. By bringing together its project management skills, its expertise in the provision of older people's services and financial backing from the private sector - and building on its experience of working with local authorities such as Gateshead MBC and Suffolk CC - Housing 21 has put together a package that will see more than 320 new homes provided for older people over the next five years. Housing 21 will be overseeing construction work on the new homes and then providing housing management services over the lifetime of the contract. But there's more to meeting need than bricks and mortar. Combating social isolation and ensuring that appropriate support is available has to be part of the plan. The Walsall contract includes building specialist accommodation for people with dementia, as well as intermediate and interim care flats for people who need a half-way house after leaving hospital. The new extra care schemes will not just provide housing. They will also provide shops, cafes and community facilities for other local people. In addition, they will offer day care services, not only for older people living in the schemes but also for those living in the locality. Communities as a whole can, and should, benefit from an injection of resources - and the development of extra care schemes, with their community-orientated facilities, means they will. Walsall isn't the only local authority Housing 21 is working with on large, long-term projects. Kent CC has confirmed Housing 21 as preferred bidder for a £160m contract to provide more than 350 homes for people across the county. For the first time, Housing 21 has worked very closely with other housing associations to help meet the council's requirements, in a deal providing housing not just for older people but also for younger adults with learning disabilities and mental health problems. Next week sees the formal launch of the largest sheltered housing PFI deal in the country. In partnership with Oldham MBC, Housing 21 has refurbished or built around 1,500 new homes, including bungalows and one and two bedroom flats for older people, in a 30-year deal worth more than £400m. There are challenges and risks in putting together these kinds of deals, but we have to work with the resources on offer, and commissioning, managing and maintaining stock levels over the long term are risks organisations like Housing 21 are used to, unlike many private sector organisations. Shrinking grants from central government as well as social housing grants from the Housing Corporation mean that councils - and their partners - need to look for new, innovative ways to fund services. The issue of resources won't go away. Councils are always going to struggle to get the funding they need, especially when the requirements and expectations of client groups such as older people continue to grow. But partnership working and drawing on the expertise of organisations such as Housing 21 means that housing the elderly isn't always about facing problems: it's also about finding solutions. Melinda Phillips is the chief executive of Housing 21, the older people's housing, care and support organisation
