Ever wondered how the innovative schemes covered by Housing Today work in practice – or even if they’re still going at all? In the first of a new series, Kate Freeman revisits five projects to find out …
Elderly tenants in sheltered homes in Greenwich, south London, tested pioneering technology in a pilot with Brunel University (16 May 2003, page 30). The scheme used sensors throughout a tenant’s flat to monitor their movements and was unusual because it alerted tenants, rather than wardens, if it detected a potentially dangerous situation. It was intended to be a memory aid and an alternative to care homes or sheltered accommodation to help people keep their independence for as long as possible. Now
The technology Brunel University piloted has been developed into a commercial package by Huntleigh Healthcare, which supplies equipment to the NHS. Beaver Homes, which piloted the technology in six residents’ flats, is replacing the pilot equipment with this new technology in about nine homes. Annette Gordon, community development manager at Beaver, says: “At first we were concerned about the privacy issue but most tenants were pleased to be involved in something new and experimental.” The hardest thing will be securing funding to continue with the scheme permanently, she says. Huntleigh will charge £5000-8000 for the equipment for one home, plus a 10% maintenance charge after the first year, or £10-12 per property, per day for rental. But Gordon is intent on finding the money. “The new equipment is being subsidised by Huntleigh and Brunel to the tune of about £1000 for each set of equipment, but there will be issues about where housing associations can get funding from,” Gordon says. “For the next year, the funding will come out of our own pocket but we are committed to it because it’s really effective. If someone is able to live independently and safely on their own, a lot of the costs they incur to other service providers such as social services would be lower too.” Initial hitches, such as one resident who mysteriously got a huge phone bill, have been ironed out and the technology can now be adapted to meet individuals’ needs. For example, a person’s daily routine, any problems they’ve had caused by forgetfulness and crime levels in their neighbourhood will all be factored into the risk calculations used by the monitoring equipment. The future
Beaver has has pledged to continue with the sensor scheme even if it is taken over (HT 2 April, page 14). Hampshire county council’s social services department has requested six sets, to be installed over the next few weeks. And Huntleigh is dealing with enquiries from various social services departments, housing bodies and primary care trusts.Then
In October 2002, Sunderland council was looking at the initial results of its efforts to reduce crime on one of its estates, Upper Pennywell (10 October 2002, page 26). One of the measures it had taken in 2000 was to fit CCTV cameras near crime hotspots where car theft, vandalism and burglaries were rife. Now
The impact of the cameras, combined with other initiatives on the estate, has been dramatic, says inspector John Parish of Northumbria police (see “How cameras cut crime”, left). “We have had many, many visits as a result of being alerted by the cameras or the public who have told us about particular incidents going on and asked us to focus the cameras on it,” says Parish. Since the cameras were fitted, there has been a drop in all types of crime reported on the estate, except assaults – which the council attributes to greater willingness to report attacks. Under the Single Regeneration Budget 3 grant, awarded in 1996, a safer estates taskforce helped launch other initiatives in the area, including a project encouraging local people to take jobs on the estate, the area’s first GP surgery and a youth club. Ian Bailes, former manager of the taskforce, which has just ended, says: “When we first went onto the estate people were flaunting their ill-gotten gains from crime, openly drug dealing and had no respect for the police. Some of these, they don’t do any more.” Sunderland Housing Group has made the estate a “renewal project” and is to demolish 589 houses, which have been derelict for years. Caroline Gitsham, local company director of Sunderland Housing Group, says: “CCTV is a useful thing to have on an estate as long as it’s not too intrusive and is accompanied by other measures.” The future
There is still a way to go in Pennywell – some houses are still boarded up and burned out and there is still drug dealing – but despite the need to find £8500 a year to maintain each of the three cameras, it looks like CCTV is there to stay. “We do need to find funding to maintain the cameras, but the council has made a commitment to them now,” says Parish.Then
In response to the Housing Corporation’s 2002 Race in Housing inquiry, Housing Today looked at how a new training scheme in Rochdale was aiming to get more Asian people employed in housing (25 July 2002, page 28). At the time, the Rochdale Housing Initiative had eight trainees on a housing management course and two on a regeneration officer scheme. Now
“The project is in its fourth year and has grown comparatively large: last year we had 26 trainees,” says RHI manager Darryl Lawrence. The scheme combines study at Salford College or Salford University with paid placements with local housing associations, contractors or councils. No job is guaranteed at the end of the courses, but of two sets of trainees so far eight out of 10 completed the course and all of those went on to get jobs in housing or the public sector. Entry-level salaries are £13,000-£15,000 a year, but some RHI trainees are now being promoted into their second jobs and getting paid £20,000 or more. Since 2002, the “regeneration officer” scheme has been dropped because the person leading it has left – although Lawrence says he would like to reinstate it. Students can now choose from three qualifications: the BTEC one-year introduction to housing, the two-year Higher National Certificate in housing studies, and a one-year postgraduate certificate in housing. It costs about £11,500 a year to fund each trainee. The placement employer pays half of this and RHI pays the other half with a Neighbourhood Renewal Fund grant of £48,000 until 2005/6, backed up by some New Deal for Employment money. The scheme is currently working with 10 employers including Rochdale Borough-wide Housing, Arcon Housing Association in Manchester and Brammall Construction. “We’ve got a buzz in the community,” says Lawrence. “Our trainees’ families have all heard about the project and seen people get a job in housing – sometimes a very good job. We are unlocking potential that wasn’t being used before.” The effect doesn’t stop at Rochdale’s borders, he says. “People have often gone to neighbouring boroughs at the end of their training because that’s where a vacancy is. In an ideal world everybody would be running a project like this and the market for new officers would be filled,” he says. ‘I AM REALLY DELIGHTED’
Liaqat Ali Shan (above) graduated from the trainee housing officer scheme in August 2002. He says: “I’m really delighted I took the step of doing the training. “My first job was as housing officer at Rochdale Borough-wide Housing, the arm’s-length management organisation for Rochdale, on about £16,000. “This February I moved to Family Housing Association in Manchester in a similar role, starting on £21,000. The job is really rewarding because you’re contributing to the community. “I have a weekly open surgery with tenants in my new job. People from ethnic minorities used to have to bring interpreters to this and only one or two would turn up. But I speak Urdu, Punjabi and Kashmiri dialect and since they have found out I am here, the numbers have been increasing every week: it was 15 last week. My ambition is to go towards management.”Then
Housing Today reported on Sutton council’s Changing Places scheme, which offered south London tenants the chance to move to bigger homes in low-demand areas (3 October 2002, page 28). In the space of a year, it had relocated 16 households to northern England, the Midlands and south-east Wales. But at the time, coordinator Natasha Bobb admitted the council had been surprised by the level of demand. She was struggling to manage the scheme on top of her other duties. Now
Last year brought mixed blessings for the project. It secured funding from the ODPM’s bed and breakfast budget for one-and-a-half staff , allowing Bobb to take on a temp to help with admin while she developed the scheme by forging links with partner councils and helping people find new jobs after moving. But from this month, that funding has been cut to just enough for half an administrative post. The scheme also suffered from the fact that Bobb was forced to take long-term sick leave last year, and her replacement is on secondment elsewhere. Acting home sales and registrations manager Amanda Goodley, who has been overseeing the project, says: “We haven’t accomplished all we wanted to do in that period.” But another 16 families moved to areas including Burnley and Swansea in 2003. Of these, most have been happy with their swaps and just one moved back – because of family requirements in Sutton. Goodley admits, however, that Sutton is trying to keep publicity low-key until staff issues are sorted out. “We haven’t done any further publicity since we launched,” she says. “Before doing more publicity, we need to have everything in place.” At present, Changing Places has 400 people on its waiting list, but this is not up-to-date and Goodley is concerned that the government’s regeneration and demolitions programme for the North may mean the number of houses available is no longer as high as when the project began. “We have good relationships with the Northern councils but it’s not formalised – we need a bank of information,” she says. One hope is that the new administrator will work with cross-London network LAWN (London Authorities West and North) on a centralised database of available homes. The future
Goodley hopes that Housing and Employment Mobility Services, a scheme to be introduced by the ODPM later this year, will help people who choose to move north under the Changing Places scheme find jobs in the areas they move to.Then
We looked at Middlesbrough’s team of 36 community wardens tackling antisocial behaviour (17 April 2003, page 28) under the “Raising Hope, Alleviating Fear” scheme that was launched in 2002 with an ODPM grant of a little more than £100,000 for 2002/3. Now
Middlesbrough’s scheme has not been affected by the ending of ODPM funding in some areas (HT 19 March, page 11). The number of wardens has doubled to 74 and there is a high-profile uniformed presence across the town. Regional warden manager Bill Thomson says: “It’s probably the biggest scheme in the country.” And it will continue, with funding of more than £1.5m a year from the ODPM, Neighbourhood Renewal Fund and European Regional Development Fund. The ODPM has chosen Middlesbrough to run one of 12 warden training centres, to open later this year, at a cost of £200,000 a year for three years. The council also hopes to launch a volunteer warden project. Walker is proud of the wardens’ close relationship with the police and fire service: intelligence about crime and antisocial behaviour is traded and they work together on the streets. “Fire officers are often assaulted – they may be called to a rubbish fire and then stoned and bricked,” says council operations manager Mandy Walker. Wardens will accompany firefighters to calls like this and because they know local people, they can calm things down or, if things get nasty, identify troublemakers later. The wardens organised a successful football tournament last summer and are planning a mini-Olympics to coincide with “Mischief Night” on 30 October, which is rapidly becoming a pre-Halloween excuse for antisocial behaviour. “Wardens send a really valuable message to residents: if you deal with antisocial behaviour early it helps improve the quality of people’s lives and they don’t feel they’re being left alone,” says Walker.Then
We looked at Middlesbrough’s team of 36 community wardens tackling antisocial behaviour (17 April 2003, page 28) under the “Raising Hope, Alleviating Fear” scheme that was launched in 2002 with an ODPM grant of a little more than £100,000 for 2002/3. Now
Middlesbrough’s scheme has not been affected by the ending of ODPM funding in some areas (HT 19 March, page 11). The number of wardens has doubled to 74 and there is a high-profile uniformed presence across the town. Regional warden manager Bill Thomson says: “It’s probably the biggest scheme in the country.” And it will continue, with funding of more than £1.5m a year from the ODPM, Neighbourhood Renewal Fund and European Regional Development Fund. The ODPM has chosen Middlesbrough to run one of 12 warden training centres, to open later this year, at a cost of £200,000 a year for three years. The council also hopes to launch a volunteer warden project. Walker is proud of the wardens’ close relationship with the police and fire service: intelligence about crime and antisocial behaviour is traded and they work together on the streets. “Fire officers are often assaulted – they may be called to a rubbish fire and then stoned and bricked,” says council operations manager Mandy Walker. Wardens will accompany firefighters to calls like this and because they know local people, they can calm things down or, if things get nasty, identify troublemakers later. The wardens organised a successful football tournament last summer and are planning a mini-Olympics to coincide with “Mischief Night” on 30 October, which is rapidly becoming a pre-Halloween excuse for antisocial behaviour. “Wardens send a really valuable message to residents: if you deal with antisocial behaviour early it helps improve the quality of people’s lives and they don’t feel they’re being left alone,” says Walker.
Sensors for elderly greenwich tenants
ThenElderly tenants in sheltered homes in Greenwich, south London, tested pioneering technology in a pilot with Brunel University (16 May 2003, page 30). The scheme used sensors throughout a tenant’s flat to monitor their movements and was unusual because it alerted tenants, rather than wardens, if it detected a potentially dangerous situation. It was intended to be a memory aid and an alternative to care homes or sheltered accommodation to help people keep their independence for as long as possible. Now
The technology Brunel University piloted has been developed into a commercial package by Huntleigh Healthcare, which supplies equipment to the NHS. Beaver Homes, which piloted the technology in six residents’ flats, is replacing the pilot equipment with this new technology in about nine homes. Annette Gordon, community development manager at Beaver, says: “At first we were concerned about the privacy issue but most tenants were pleased to be involved in something new and experimental.” The hardest thing will be securing funding to continue with the scheme permanently, she says. Huntleigh will charge £5000-8000 for the equipment for one home, plus a 10% maintenance charge after the first year, or £10-12 per property, per day for rental. But Gordon is intent on finding the money. “The new equipment is being subsidised by Huntleigh and Brunel to the tune of about £1000 for each set of equipment, but there will be issues about where housing associations can get funding from,” Gordon says. “For the next year, the funding will come out of our own pocket but we are committed to it because it’s really effective. If someone is able to live independently and safely on their own, a lot of the costs they incur to other service providers such as social services would be lower too.” Initial hitches, such as one resident who mysteriously got a huge phone bill, have been ironed out and the technology can now be adapted to meet individuals’ needs. For example, a person’s daily routine, any problems they’ve had caused by forgetfulness and crime levels in their neighbourhood will all be factored into the risk calculations used by the monitoring equipment. The future
Beaver has has pledged to continue with the sensor scheme even if it is taken over (HT 2 April, page 14). Hampshire county council’s social services department has requested six sets, to be installed over the next few weeks. And Huntleigh is dealing with enquiries from various social services departments, housing bodies and primary care trusts.
CCTV on Sunderland estate
In October 2002, Sunderland council was looking at the initial results of its efforts to reduce crime on one of its estates, Upper Pennywell (10 October 2002, page 26). One of the measures it had taken in 2000 was to fit CCTV cameras near crime hotspots where car theft, vandalism and burglaries were rife. Now
The impact of the cameras, combined with other initiatives on the estate, has been dramatic, says inspector John Parish of Northumbria police (see “How cameras cut crime”, left). “We have had many, many visits as a result of being alerted by the cameras or the public who have told us about particular incidents going on and asked us to focus the cameras on it,” says Parish. Since the cameras were fitted, there has been a drop in all types of crime reported on the estate, except assaults – which the council attributes to greater willingness to report attacks. Under the Single Regeneration Budget 3 grant, awarded in 1996, a safer estates taskforce helped launch other initiatives in the area, including a project encouraging local people to take jobs on the estate, the area’s first GP surgery and a youth club. Ian Bailes, former manager of the taskforce, which has just ended, says: “When we first went onto the estate people were flaunting their ill-gotten gains from crime, openly drug dealing and had no respect for the police. Some of these, they don’t do any more.” Sunderland Housing Group has made the estate a “renewal project” and is to demolish 589 houses, which have been derelict for years. Caroline Gitsham, local company director of Sunderland Housing Group, says: “CCTV is a useful thing to have on an estate as long as it’s not too intrusive and is accompanied by other measures.” The future
There is still a way to go in Pennywell – some houses are still boarded up and burned out and there is still drug dealing – but despite the need to find £8500 a year to maintain each of the three cameras, it looks like CCTV is there to stay. “We do need to find funding to maintain the cameras, but the council has made a commitment to them now,” says Parish.
Diversity project in Rochdale
In response to the Housing Corporation’s 2002 Race in Housing inquiry, Housing Today looked at how a new training scheme in Rochdale was aiming to get more Asian people employed in housing (25 July 2002, page 28). At the time, the Rochdale Housing Initiative had eight trainees on a housing management course and two on a regeneration officer scheme. Now
“The project is in its fourth year and has grown comparatively large: last year we had 26 trainees,” says RHI manager Darryl Lawrence. The scheme combines study at Salford College or Salford University with paid placements with local housing associations, contractors or councils. No job is guaranteed at the end of the courses, but of two sets of trainees so far eight out of 10 completed the course and all of those went on to get jobs in housing or the public sector. Entry-level salaries are £13,000-£15,000 a year, but some RHI trainees are now being promoted into their second jobs and getting paid £20,000 or more. Since 2002, the “regeneration officer” scheme has been dropped because the person leading it has left – although Lawrence says he would like to reinstate it. Students can now choose from three qualifications: the BTEC one-year introduction to housing, the two-year Higher National Certificate in housing studies, and a one-year postgraduate certificate in housing. It costs about £11,500 a year to fund each trainee. The placement employer pays half of this and RHI pays the other half with a Neighbourhood Renewal Fund grant of £48,000 until 2005/6, backed up by some New Deal for Employment money. The scheme is currently working with 10 employers including Rochdale Borough-wide Housing, Arcon Housing Association in Manchester and Brammall Construction. “We’ve got a buzz in the community,” says Lawrence. “Our trainees’ families have all heard about the project and seen people get a job in housing – sometimes a very good job. We are unlocking potential that wasn’t being used before.” The effect doesn’t stop at Rochdale’s borders, he says. “People have often gone to neighbouring boroughs at the end of their training because that’s where a vacancy is. In an ideal world everybody would be running a project like this and the market for new officers would be filled,” he says. ‘I AM REALLY DELIGHTED’
Liaqat Ali Shan (above) graduated from the trainee housing officer scheme in August 2002. He says: “I’m really delighted I took the step of doing the training. “My first job was as housing officer at Rochdale Borough-wide Housing, the arm’s-length management organisation for Rochdale, on about £16,000. “This February I moved to Family Housing Association in Manchester in a similar role, starting on £21,000. The job is really rewarding because you’re contributing to the community. “I have a weekly open surgery with tenants in my new job. People from ethnic minorities used to have to bring interpreters to this and only one or two would turn up. But I speak Urdu, Punjabi and Kashmiri dialect and since they have found out I am here, the numbers have been increasing every week: it was 15 last week. My ambition is to go towards management.”
Sutton helps families move north
Housing Today reported on Sutton council’s Changing Places scheme, which offered south London tenants the chance to move to bigger homes in low-demand areas (3 October 2002, page 28). In the space of a year, it had relocated 16 households to northern England, the Midlands and south-east Wales. But at the time, coordinator Natasha Bobb admitted the council had been surprised by the level of demand. She was struggling to manage the scheme on top of her other duties. Now
Last year brought mixed blessings for the project. It secured funding from the ODPM’s bed and breakfast budget for one-and-a-half staff , allowing Bobb to take on a temp to help with admin while she developed the scheme by forging links with partner councils and helping people find new jobs after moving. But from this month, that funding has been cut to just enough for half an administrative post. The scheme also suffered from the fact that Bobb was forced to take long-term sick leave last year, and her replacement is on secondment elsewhere. Acting home sales and registrations manager Amanda Goodley, who has been overseeing the project, says: “We haven’t accomplished all we wanted to do in that period.” But another 16 families moved to areas including Burnley and Swansea in 2003. Of these, most have been happy with their swaps and just one moved back – because of family requirements in Sutton. Goodley admits, however, that Sutton is trying to keep publicity low-key until staff issues are sorted out. “We haven’t done any further publicity since we launched,” she says. “Before doing more publicity, we need to have everything in place.” At present, Changing Places has 400 people on its waiting list, but this is not up-to-date and Goodley is concerned that the government’s regeneration and demolitions programme for the North may mean the number of houses available is no longer as high as when the project began. “We have good relationships with the Northern councils but it’s not formalised – we need a bank of information,” she says. One hope is that the new administrator will work with cross-London network LAWN (London Authorities West and North) on a centralised database of available homes. The future
Goodley hopes that Housing and Employment Mobility Services, a scheme to be introduced by the ODPM later this year, will help people who choose to move north under the Changing Places scheme find jobs in the areas they move to.
More wardens keeping Middlesbrough safe
We looked at Middlesbrough’s team of 36 community wardens tackling antisocial behaviour (17 April 2003, page 28) under the “Raising Hope, Alleviating Fear” scheme that was launched in 2002 with an ODPM grant of a little more than £100,000 for 2002/3. Now
Middlesbrough’s scheme has not been affected by the ending of ODPM funding in some areas (HT 19 March, page 11). The number of wardens has doubled to 74 and there is a high-profile uniformed presence across the town. Regional warden manager Bill Thomson says: “It’s probably the biggest scheme in the country.” And it will continue, with funding of more than £1.5m a year from the ODPM, Neighbourhood Renewal Fund and European Regional Development Fund. The ODPM has chosen Middlesbrough to run one of 12 warden training centres, to open later this year, at a cost of £200,000 a year for three years. The council also hopes to launch a volunteer warden project. Walker is proud of the wardens’ close relationship with the police and fire service: intelligence about crime and antisocial behaviour is traded and they work together on the streets. “Fire officers are often assaulted – they may be called to a rubbish fire and then stoned and bricked,” says council operations manager Mandy Walker. Wardens will accompany firefighters to calls like this and because they know local people, they can calm things down or, if things get nasty, identify troublemakers later. The wardens organised a successful football tournament last summer and are planning a mini-Olympics to coincide with “Mischief Night” on 30 October, which is rapidly becoming a pre-Halloween excuse for antisocial behaviour. “Wardens send a really valuable message to residents: if you deal with antisocial behaviour early it helps improve the quality of people’s lives and they don’t feel they’re being left alone,” says Walker.
More wardens keeping Middlesbrough safe
We looked at Middlesbrough’s team of 36 community wardens tackling antisocial behaviour (17 April 2003, page 28) under the “Raising Hope, Alleviating Fear” scheme that was launched in 2002 with an ODPM grant of a little more than £100,000 for 2002/3. Now
Middlesbrough’s scheme has not been affected by the ending of ODPM funding in some areas (HT 19 March, page 11). The number of wardens has doubled to 74 and there is a high-profile uniformed presence across the town. Regional warden manager Bill Thomson says: “It’s probably the biggest scheme in the country.” And it will continue, with funding of more than £1.5m a year from the ODPM, Neighbourhood Renewal Fund and European Regional Development Fund. The ODPM has chosen Middlesbrough to run one of 12 warden training centres, to open later this year, at a cost of £200,000 a year for three years. The council also hopes to launch a volunteer warden project. Walker is proud of the wardens’ close relationship with the police and fire service: intelligence about crime and antisocial behaviour is traded and they work together on the streets. “Fire officers are often assaulted – they may be called to a rubbish fire and then stoned and bricked,” says council operations manager Mandy Walker. Wardens will accompany firefighters to calls like this and because they know local people, they can calm things down or, if things get nasty, identify troublemakers later. The wardens organised a successful football tournament last summer and are planning a mini-Olympics to coincide with “Mischief Night” on 30 October, which is rapidly becoming a pre-Halloween excuse for antisocial behaviour. “Wardens send a really valuable message to residents: if you deal with antisocial behaviour early it helps improve the quality of people’s lives and they don’t feel they’re being left alone,” says Walker.
Source
Housing Today
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