The UK needs Homeshare

Yesterday, we launched the new Homeshare good practice guide and calls on government (download them at  http://bit.ly/hqZ7KL). We’ve had some good coverage in Community Care magazine:  http://bit.ly/fkNfAr (article) and  http://bit.ly/eGoLLd (my column).

In ‘Homeshare’, someone who needs some help to live independently in their own home is matched with someone who has a housing need and can provide a little support.

‘Householders’ are often older people who have their own home but who have developed some support needs or are isolated or anxious about living alone. ‘Homesharers’ are often students or key public service workers who cannot afford housing where they work. In a Homeshare scheme in Oxford, gap year volunteers live in with older people for mutual support during their first experience of living away from home.

The Homesharer provides an agreed level of help and support to the Householder whilst living in their home for an agreed period of time. Homesharers are not charged rent, but usually agree to contribute to household bills.

Gillian had a house; Neil needed somewhere to live. Gillian was worried about being alone and the responsibility of keeping things working; Neil, who does not own a home, was semi-retired, and could fix leaking taps. Gillian is 88, Neil 61, and they found each other through Homeshare. Today they share Gillian’s beautiful red-brick converted barn in a West Sussex village, with its beamed sitting room and fruit trees in the garden. No money changes hands, but Neil drives Gillian to doctor’s appointments and the supermarket and provides practical help around the house. He is a reassuring and useful presence, both physically and psychologically.

Gillian says, “We both put our names forward for Homeshare and, after vetting, it was decided we might be a good match. We met first in a neutral place, at the house of old friends of mine, then we had a couple of meals out. We haven’t got a terrific lot of things in common, but perhaps that’s why we get on. I think I get more out of it than Neil does.” (This story is from Agebomb – see the link in my blogroll).

There are 11 Homeshare schemes in six locations in the UK (see www.naaps.org.uk),  and we support the national network. Homeshare is small in the UK but much more significant in many other countries where there has perhaps been more investment and less red tape. So it was really encouraging to visit Crossroads Central and North London, who have just taken on the UK’s largest Homeshare scheme, which is supporting 80 matches very successfully and has big plans to develop the service. One of the reasons that Homeshare scheme has been successful

We will not be moved!

Earlier in this year, a High Court made a judgement which strongly criticised the actions of a council, whose officials had removed someone from their Shared Lives household, due to a safeguarding concern (later shown to be unfounded), without going through the proper processes. The man in question did not apparently wish to move but did not have the mental capacity to make the decision for himself. In that situation, council employees cannot simply decide to move someone from their home, regardless of whether it is their family home, a Shared Lives household or a residential home where they have resided for a long time. Instead, they must apply the processes set down in the Mental Capacity Act and in some cases, apply for a court order. The place where someone lives is their family life and we are all protected by the Human Rights Act when people seek to make decisions which affect our right to private and family life.

This decision, and others like it, could have ramifications for people affected by councils’ cuts.