Supported Housing

Supported housing is accommodation for people who are aged 60 and over, who can live on their own but who would like to have support close by. We have 29 supported housing schemes across Dacorum with a range of self-contained flats and bungalows. You can find out about the schemes by visiting our Schemes in Hemel Hempstead and Schemes in Berkhamsted, Tring and the villages pages. On occasion, the age limit is lowered to 55 and 50 when there has been no interest in a property. However, applicants below 50 years old that would benefit from Supported Housing will be required to demonstrate a medical or welfare need. These applications will be assessed by the internal Housing Panel.

What is supported housing?

Supported housing is accommodation for people aged 60 or over who wish to remain independent in their home but who may have some support needs that need to be met in order for them to do so. Our schemes can be found throughout the Dacorum area.

This type of accommodation comes in a number of ways;

               Internal

               Individual flats in one large building with communal facilities behind a main shared front door.

               Dispersed

               Usually flats or bungalows grouped together in a small area with some communal facilities.

               Community

               Individual properties found within general housing stock with no communal facilities.

What is the supported housing entry criteria?

In order to qualify for supported housing you need to be over 60 years of age and have less than £400,000 in capital and assets.

What is a supported housing officer?

Each supported housing scheme has a Supported Housing Officer attached to it. These are often called SHO for short. Your SHO works normal office hours Monday to Friday and is there to support you with accessing any services or additional help you might need. They will agree a regular time to check in with you to see how you are doing and to make sure all of your safety equipment is working as it should be.

Is there an alarm system?

All internal and dispersed properties in supported housing come with access to a 24 hour alarm system with multiple call points throughout your property. This allows you to speak to a real person at our monitoring agency at any time of the day or night. If you are unable to speak for any reason they will quickly call an ambulance to attend and check on your welfare.

What is Flexicare?

Our Flexicare scheme is very similar to our other internal supported housing schemes except that we also have an on-site care team 24 hours a day. This makes Flexicare a good option for people whose support needs are a little bit more significant than you might find in other parts of our service. If you come into Flexicare you can still live independently, however you will also have access to a care package that can support you with areas such as personal hygiene, medication, meal preparation and many other areas.

Our Flexicare service is found at Evelyn Sharp House.

What other facilities can I find at your supported housing schemes?

We have a number of additional facilities available at most of our supported housing schemes.

These include;

  • Laundries (not all schemes)
  • Mobility Scooter Storage (only for those who have had an OT Assessment where space is available)
  • Communal Lounges
  • Bookable Guest Rooms
  • Regular activities
  • Communal gardens