‘We need to get our finger out’: Councillors welcome plans for ‘specialist’ homes for vulnerable residents

Cllr Sharon Patrick said she was ‘surprised’ the plans had taken so long. Photograph: Hackney Council

Older residents and those living with disability or illness in Hackney are set to benefit from hundreds of “specialist” homes.

Hackney Council has revealed its latest plans for adult social care, proposing new residential and supported living accommodation over the next decade.

Adult social care covers a wide range of activities that help people to live independently and stay well and safe.

It can include the provision of aids and adaptations for people’s homes, for example.

Rising demand for social care led the Town Hall to put plans in place for 532 “specialist” upgraded homes or new-builds while cutting costs and driving efficiency, councillors were told on Monday.

The number of accommodation units were identified in a review by consultancy firm Campbell Tickell and pored over by the Health in Hackney scrutiny committee.

Helen Woodland, the council’s group director for adults, health and integration, told councillors the work had been “complex” but vital in finding an alternative to sending many residents out of Hackney due to a lack of social care facilities.

“We are facing the same challenge as all local authorities around social care in that we have increasing demand and increasing acuity, but no more increasing money,” she said.

Woodland said a key challenge of its specialised living facilities for older people, also called ‘housing with care sites’ or ‘extra care’, was that they were “not purpose-built”.

“They are not necessarily in the places that people want to live, or in the communities our residents are coming from,” she explained.

“By developing alternative forms of supported accommodation, as opposed to residential care, we can provide care closer to home and close to the communities for the people we support.”

The report states that demand for residential and supported living has increased by four per cent since 2023, and is predicted to increase by 34 per cent by 2030.

“It’s incredibly important that we deliver as quickly as possible,” Woodland said.

The full outline for the plan said it would give residents more choice and control over accommodation, care and support, while helping the social care budget “achieve efficiencies”.

It also claimed the ‘bespoke” programme could save the council £300 per week per person by focusing just on care and support costs, while the accommodation itself will be paid for through housing benefit.

Cllr Sharon Patrick (Labour) asked the committee whether the Town Hall’s current capital build programme for new council homes could be factored into the plan to create specialised homes, and stressed the urgency of the latest plan.

“I welcome this, I really do. I’m surprised it’s taken this long—I think it was here 15 months ago and it was a top priority, and we still haven’t got any sites identified, we haven’t got a brick laid.

“We do need to get our finger out and get on with this. I think this is something the committee needs to keep monitoring,” she said.

The Town Hall’s next step is to submit a bid for funding for 2025/26, alongside an estimated programme cost over the next decade, as part of its budget plan.

Cllr Ben Hayhurst (Labour), committee chair, welcomed the plan: “For the first time I see a particular energy across the whole council in terms of a drive to move this forward.”