The recent BBC Panorama programme, uncovering the maltreatment of people with learning disabilities in a hospital in Bristol, raises some really important questions. Not least of these, is why so many people with learning disabilities still live in institutions? For several decades nearly everybody has agreed that people with learning disabilities should have a home of their own and with the right support, should be given the opportunity to have control over their own lives. Given that tens of millions of pounds have been spent and countless thousands of pages of policy and guidance have been produced telling commissioners, providers and practitioners what to do, what’s gone wrong?
One (of probably many) answers lies in an excellent report published by Laing and Buisson and written by David Roe. The report, originally commissioned by the Department of Health, looks at why the transformation of social care for people with learning disabilities has been so slow in coming to fruition. David comes to the conclusion that the desperate lack of affordable housing options for people with learning disabilities undermines attempts to give people the opportunity to have decent lives. He sets out how difficult it is for current service providers to leave behind institutional models of care and re-invest in housing and support services, how the residential care home market is starting to struggle with growing numbers of voids and highlights the limitations of existing housing options for people with learning disabilities. Further information can be found here.
The difficulties faced by residents of Southern Cross care homes are still unfolding, but one thing is sure. The company and its equity backers and the landlords they are in dispute with, will all have contracts setting out their entitlements. But, unsurprisingly, the older people living in the disputed care homes won’t have been afforded the same protection – at least as far as housing rights are concerned. Institutional care provided in hospital and residential care homes, whether it’s designed for older people or people with learning disabilities is flawed in one fundamental respect; people have no right to live in their (chosen!) home.
We launched our Buy to Help proposition back in February with the aim of producing new, secure and affordable ordinary housing opportunities for people with learning disabilities. So far we’ve:
- met and spoken to loads of people with very different interests who have been very supportive of the initiative
- started work with a few local authorities interested in exploring the proposition
- received encouragement from the Homes & Communities Agency and key political figures
- been working with investment advisors to locate capital to help us provide more homes for people with learning disabilities
If you’re trying to transform your services for people with learning disabilities, have capital to invest, or would simply likely to talk to us about our work, please contact us.
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