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Hornsey currently manages 385 tenancies for older people, spread across Haringey in Hornsey, Crouch End, Harringay, Highgate and Tottenham . Hornsey also provides a range of support services for the majority of those tenants, running floating support and scheme management alongside a housing management and maintenance service tailored for the needs of an older client group. Their support team is well established and one of their latest initiatives is to establish ‘extra-care’ support as part of a scheme to convert two of their schemes into extra care sheltered housing, for frailer tenants. This project is one of only seventeen projects from over 200 bidders to gain Department of Health funding to create new Extra Care provision. Hornsey's focus as an organisation is providing housing related support to older people to enable them to remain independent for as long as possible. Hornsey have recently secured a contract to provide floating support for 60 older people across the London Borough of Barnet. This project is funded by Barnet’s Supporting People programme and is run as a close partnership with the Borough’s Social Services department. This is now about to increase to 80 clients after a successful start. For the past two years, Hornsey has joined with Novas Ouvertures in creating the 60+ in Haringey service. This service provides floating support for 380 older people across the Borough and includes a range of tenure groups – Council tenants, Housing Association tenants, private rented tenants and owner occupiers. Most recently, 60+ has led in the partnership on establishing working links with Haringey Primary Care Trust to develop a delayed hospital discharge project. This involves providing short term support to older patients who need additional help in settling back into home life after a hospital stay. Hornsey's housing management, support and care service operations are dedicated to the needs and aspirations of older people and they have built up an excellent reputation for the high standard and responsiveness of their services. Hornsey's tenants' committee is very active and well supported, ensuring that services are closely tailored to customers’ demands. Hornsey's housing development track record is also very strong and they have produced a regular stream of innovative, popular and high quality housing for older people throughout the last fifteen years. In the 1990’s Hornsey developed four high quality Sheltered Housing schemes providing 92 spacious and well serviced flats for older people. These have all been built with high space standards and with a range of communal facilities to ensure the success and long term viability of the schemes. All schemes are supported by a Scheme Manager and also include large communal kitchens and dining facilities, Parker baths and a range of multi-functional rooms (used for visiting doctors, hairdressers and for private use or prayer). Three of Hornsey's sheltered schemes are developed and managed for multi-cultural communities. Abyssinia Court in Hornsey has 37 flats for a range of African, Caribbean, Asian, Chinese, Irish and continental European tenants. The service at Abysinnia Court has proven innovative and effective in providing a supportive environment for culturally isolated people. Palm Tree Court in Tottenham has 14 flats for African elders (including Nigerian, Ghanaian, Somali and Mauritian tenants). Olive Tree Court in Harringay has 17 flats for Cypriot elders, both from the Greek and Turkish Cypriot communities. The fourth scheme, Margaret Hill House in Crouch End, has 24 flats. Hornsey's Sheba Court scheme in Tottenham is an innovative mix of twelve flats for older people, four flats for families supporting a physically disabled person and ten supported flats for people with learning disabilities (with the support provided by HAIL - Haringey Association for Independent Living). The Scheme Manager at our Palm Tree Court scheme supports the older people at Sheba Court. Hornsey also own and manage a well-established scheme for people with mental health problems at West Green Road in South Tottenham, with the support provided by PentaHact. Hornsey makes sure that older people in our dispersed street properties are provided with services that are appropriate to their needs, and operates a mobile Scheme Manager service to assist older and frailer tenants to maintain their tenancies with independence and dignity. Hornsey's support service provides additional support to meet the needs of frailer or more vulnerable tenants living outside of sheltered or supported housing. These tenants tell Hornsey that they want to stay in their homes, away from schemes, and Hornsey are committed to support them to extend that stay for as long as possible. Hornsey's housing management work is primarily focused on the housing and support needs of our older client group. Hornsey employ a housing management team who are experienced and effective in providing rent and tenancy advice to their tenants, as well as effectively carrying out the core tasks of rent collection, lettings and void control. Hornsey's Scheme Managers and field staff are also part of this team. Their maintenance team run a local and responsive repair service, employing a range of established contractors, skilled at providing a prompt and high quality service to our main client group. Hornsey's housing management and maintenance performance is well regarded and achieves high satisfaction ratings from their tenants. Hornsey have also invested heavily in new technology, having an integrated accounts, rent, repairs, stock reinvestment and allocations IT system. Hornsey are set up to deal with as many calls as possible at the first point of contact, having trained, experienced and empowered Customer Service staff. Hornsey have experience of partnering with other providers for older people and for people with support needs. They collaborate with a local not-for-profit care provider, Hill Homes, helping them to decide on the management and direction of their services. Hornsey also have a close working relationship with housing and social services staff at Haringey and Barnet Councils. Hornsey's partnership with PentaHact Housing Society in our mental health scheme in Tottenham sees the housing management and maintenance services being carried out directly by Hornsey Housing Trust, with the care and support contracted to PentaHact. This successful partnership model has been repeated at Hornsey's scheme for people with learning disabilities in Tottenham, Sheba Court, joining forces with HAIL (Haringey Association for Independent Living). Hornsey's current partnership with the Novas Ouvertures Group recognises a complementary fit between each of our organisations, gaining from each of our experiences in dealing with different client groups who need support. There is a very strong, well-supported and active Tenants Committee at Hornsey Housing Trust. As 95% of their tenants are over 60, it is appropriate that the Tenants’ Committee membership is made up of similarly aged tenants. Within this group, there is a good cross section of age (from early 60’s to late 80’s), a range of ethnic backgrounds (African-Caribbean, African, Cypriot, Asian and Irish older people as well as white English people) and with an even gender split. At 60+ in Haringey there is also an active service user panel, involving users in a range of activities such as staff interviews and service development. The Tenants Committee elect three tenant members to the Management Board of Hornsey Housing Trust, who sit on the main Board as well as being active participants in sub-committee and associated work. The Tenants Committee members also participate fully in jointly producing the Hornsey Housing Trust tenants’ magazine. The Best Value process at Hornsey Housing Trust is organised with at least three tenants present – with senior staff - on each of the ‘scrutiny panels’ carrying out successive comprehensive service reviews. As part of the review of Hornsey's maintenance, gardening and cleaning services, the Tenants’ Committee organised their own questionnaire and survey, gaining an excellent and highly useful response. The Tenants’ Committee also took part in the selection process for recent tenders for gardening and cleaning contracts. Hornsey's sheltered schemes all have active tenants’ groups, mainly there to organise and maintain social activities but also acting as the voice of the tenants on service and welfare issues ranging from gardening, the role of the Scheme Manager, service charges and the use of the common rooms. Hornsey's experience in developing our multi-cultural and specific ethnic minority schemes for older people has shown the benefit of effectively involving local communities and prospective tenants early in the development stage. For example, close and prolonged discussions with the local Cypriot community in the Green Lanes area of Harringay prior to Hornsey's Olive Tree House scheme being developed led to crucially important decisions being made about its design, location and management. It also led to the successful decision to provide and sensitively manage the scheme for both Greek and Turkish Cypriot elders. Hornsey's refurbishment and improvement work on existing stock is closely geared to the needs of their older clients. With the current and long term needs of tenants in mind, Hornsey focuses much of its development and property management activity on making older stock physically suitable and attractive to people who prefer such property and who want to stay put. Hornsey's stock reinvestment strategy is currently addressing a range of issues in older stock such as energy efficiency, access improvements and appropriate aids and adaptations – extending their use for an older and frailer client group. Hornsey's work at 60+ in Haringey is providing innovative approaches to developing a volunteer network to work with the support teams. The prime benefit of this approach is to help develop befriending networks which support workers can use in sensitively referring on older people whose main needs relate to loneliness and isolation. This approach is being developed to extend into Hornsey's work in Barnet. |
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