Scottish Housing Day 2024 is centered around the theme of ‘Homes for Life’ – encouraging people to think about how the housing sector can support individuals as their needs and priorities change with age.
We wanted to take this opportunity to highlight the benefits of sheltered housing, one of the great options available, which offers a supportive and safe environment for older adults to live independently. Below, we answer some questions with Maureen Combe, our Sheltered Housing Manager, who has worked with us for the last 27 years.
Q: What is sheltered housing?
A: Sheltered housing is made up of several flats within a building that is purpose-built for older people to live in. We have three sheltered housing developments in the Leith area, providing a housing support service for more than 150 older adults.
It is independent living with a low level of support. Our tenants have their own self-contained home with a kitchen, living room, bedroom and bathroom, and our tenants furnish their homes in the way they want. They each have their own set of keys and can come and go as they please.
Q: What kind of services and support are available to tenants?
A: Staff are on-site from Monday to Friday, 9am-5pm, and provide support and help organise, plan and deliver social activities. Emergency pull cords and alarms are installed in every flat, so help can be provided quickly, and outside of staff hours our calls are connected to the Community Alarms Centre, who will respond to any emergencies. We also have options such as morning calls and activity monitoring, allowing tenants to choose the level of support they prefer.
We’re registered with the Care Inspectorate and all our staff are registered with the Scottish Social Services Council. We work to Harbour Homes’ values, with our own team charter, utilizing the Scottish Social Services Council codes of practice and national care standards for housing support. Providing excellent support to our sheltered tenants is paramount to us.
Q: What is daily life like in sheltered housing?
A: Each development is very much its own community, wonderful friendships are made, and tenants look out for each other. Tenants enjoy independent living while taking part if they want to, with plenty of opportunities to meet people and join in. There are at least three organised social activities in each development each week, and we try to stay creative and current, adapting as we go to suit the changing needs of our tenants. Tenants also have their friends and family visit, so they keep their external social connections, while building new ones internally.
We have fun and support our older adults to enjoy and embrace their later years, not fear them. We place a great focus on health and wellbeing. We organise challenges, therapies, exercise, walking groups, healthy foods, and we work in partnership with others to deliver the best service we can. We also have an active tenants group who are fully involved, and help with recruitment, support activities and facilitate decision making.
Q: Why do tenants choose sheltered housing?
A: In my 27 years working here, the comments I’ve heard over and over again are ‘I wish I’d have done this years ago’, ‘It’s the best thing I’ve ever done’, ‘I feel safe now’ and ‘I’ve made some wonderful friends’. A new tenant who moved in recently said ‘this has changed our lives; my wife can get out to see her friends and our health and well-being has improved so much’.
Our aim is to support older people to maintain their independence, while providing a warm, safe and welcoming environment. Being older doesn’t mean that life stops, it means a different chapter of life begins. And this should be in a good environment with passion, love and laughter… and it should be a lot of fun! Sheltered housing is a proactive choice that allows people to continue living life on their terms, with just the right amount of support.