We were heartened to know that Angus Care & Repair and the Life Changes Trust commissioned a report to review the housing support available for people affected by dementia.
The “Being Home” report, launched at the Housing and Dementia summit in Perth earlier this month, looks in to current practices, services and policy and uses new interview-based evidence from policy makers, health, housing and social care practitioners. It also captures the voices of people living with dementia, their carers and groups attending dementia cafes through Alzheimer Scotland.
It is a comprehensive piece of research outlining specific areas with recommendations to move towards housing policy and planning which supports an increase in the range of housing options available to meet the needs of people living with dementia and their families.
Scotland has been at the forefront of rights based care and has led the way in policy and legislation to support and protect people living with dementia. Appropriate housing that will meet the current and future needs of the person living with dementia, their family and supporters, is a fundamental right and concern. However, despite Scotland’s leadership in living well with dementia, there is still some way to go to address key concerns in this area.
- Read more about the Housing and Dementia work (all presentations from the Housing and Dementia event are available here)
- Download the ‘Being Home’ Key Findings
- Download the ‘Being Home’ Full Report
Rural Wisdom
This work connects particularly with our Rural Wisdom project through which we are working to help make rural areas in Scotland and Wales work better for older people – part of this will be about looking in to housing options for people. The Being Home report which highlights the issues around housing and dementia is an incredibly valuable resource for this work. Sign up to the Rural Wisdom newsletter to receive updates on what we’re doing and how you can get involved.
Moving Assistance
The report also connect with our Moving Assistance project in which we developed and published a set of hints and tips giving advice and assistance for older people when thinking about moving home. These include:
- Should you move or stay?
- Choosing the right house
- Reducing what you have
- Making the move
- Supporting your relative or friend
- A directory of useful services and sources of advice
Housing Options Scotland Tour 2017
You might be interested in this tour which will be hitting the road this summer to provide housing information and advice events for disabled people, older people, disabled veterans and those who support them.
The focus will be on more rural areas of Scotland, where these groups find it much harder to access the information and support they need.
The tour will consist of free drop in events where people will get the opportunity to speak to Housing Options Scotland staff about their housing issues and get advice, listen to talks about housing that will be repeated throughout the day, while enjoying a nice cup of tea or coffee.