What is Housing Management?
Once housed we offer assistance to ensure residents understand the legal obligations of living in an East Living property and help them to meet these obligations so that they can keep their homes.
Some of the areas that we offer assistance in are;
• Tenancies (assured, secure and licences)
• Housing management (allocations, good practice, dealing with rent arrears)
• Disrepair (definition, legal remedies)
• Anti-social behaviour (definition, mediation, legal remedies).
• Ensuring property meets Decent Homes Standard
• Possession proceedings (serving notice, type of notice served, outcomes)
Housing Officers will ensure properties are allocated and residents have their rights and responsibilities explained to them in an accessible format suitable for any particular needs they may have.
They carry out regular monitoring visits to ensure that furnishings, repairs and Health & Safety standards are adequate and that rent accounts are up to date.
They are available to help mediate and resolve neighbour or other disputes and will bring in specialists as required to take all steps to ensure all residents have ‘quiet enjoyment’ of their residency.
The Housing team also provide a regulatory role in monitoring a number of properties and services that we own but have management agreements with external partners top provide housing management and/or care and support functions.
What is Supported Housing?
There are many types of supported housing. The table below outlines the types offered by East Living;
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Type
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Description
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Shared supported housing
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Accommodation (could be temporary or permanent) where residents have their own room but share bathroom, kitchen and other communal areas with other residents. Support is delivered by East Living staff. They either have an office in the property or visit on a regular basis.
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Self-contained supported housing
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Residents have their own flat or house. Sometimes it is sited in a block or cluster of the same type of provision and sometimes it is dispersed within a locality. Support is provided by staff via an office in the block or through a visiting service.
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Hostel
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Accommodation where larger numbers of residents live. They have private bedrooms and share communal areas.
Staffing is often provided on a 24-hour basis, seven days per week and in some cases meals are provided.
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Bed and breakfast
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Temporary accommodation - usually shared and provided by the local authority or on its behalf. The accommodation is provided for people with out homes awaiting a decision as to whether the local authority will offer to house them. Support is not always provided, but it has become increasingly common.
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Women’s refuge
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Temporary accommodation for women (and their children) that have experienced domestic violence. Women often share a room with their children and share other communal areas with other women and their families. Support is provided by workers, sometimes around the clock.
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Adult placements
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Long and short term accommodation with care/support provided for the service user in the personal (usually family) home of a provider. This term can also be used to describe non-accommodation based services such as day services, befriending or support in the community.
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Housing for older people (sometimes called sheltered)
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Accommodation that is specifically for older people, usually over 55, and predominately in self-contained houses or flats. The support is provided by a warden, who may live on the site, or support staff who visit the property. Some schemes are designated ‘extra care’ where meals and care may be provided in addition to support.
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Residential care home
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Can be temporary or permanent accommodation
registered under the Care Standards Act 2000 to provide
housing, support and personal care to service users. Service users usually have their own bedroom and share communal areas; however, some newer homes have private as well as communal cooking and washing facilities. Support and care are provided by East Living staff 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
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Foyer for Young People
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Temporary accommodation for young people (usually aged 17–25 years) with support and access to employment training and education. The accommodation will be shared or self-contained. .
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Almshouses
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Permanent, usually self-contained, accommodation
often targeted at older people and people on lower incomes. The accommodation is generally managed by a charity or the trustees of a bequest
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New Build Home Buy (formerly known as shared ownership) schemes
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Permanent self-contained accommodation where the service user buys part of the equity of the property (for example, 70 per cent). Support may be provided when the residents requires by a support officer based close by.
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Supported lodgings
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Similar to ‘adult placements’. An individual rents out rooms in their home and provides support to a service user with support needs; commonly used to house young people. The service user will have their own room but share bathroom, kitchen and other communal areas with the lodgings provider, who also provides the support
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Non-accommodation based Community/alarm services
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Usually associated with older people, where an alarm is provided for emergency use in the service users’ home. Support services are thus provided when needed to enable
service users to stay in their own home.
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Home improvement services
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Schemes that are designed to support service users in acquiring the aids and adaptation they require to stay in their own home.
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How much does it cost?
Each one of our Housing developments has associated rent and care or support charges depending on the specific nature of the services they provide.
Many of these services are chargeable and assistance can often be found with costs through rent subsidy or fairer charging schemes from your local authority.
Please contact us for details.
Who can apply?
Each one of our Housing developments has specific referral or nomination requirements, some can be bid for through Choice Based Lettings http://www.ellcchoicehomes.org.uk
Where are our services offered?
We currently manage 1,076 bed spaces (or bedrooms) in around 80 supported housing schemes in all the Boroughs of operation in east London and Essex.
We also oversee around 50 properties managed by 15 partner Agencies.