Schemes for adults with disabilities approved

Two new housing schemes that offer disabled people 24/7 care are to be set up in Tameside to try and tackle the huge demand for ‘suitable’ homes from residents.

Town hall bosses say that the new facilities, in Stalybridge and Droylsden, will support adults with learning disabilities and aims to bring residents back from ‘costly’ out of borough placements.

A scheme of up to 14 self-contained flats at Melbourne Street will be owned and offered through the local provider Homes for Life at a cost of £191 a week.

And five new-build flats that will be developed on a plot of land on Hart Street in Droylsden.

This accommodation will be managed and run by Care Housing Association, with weekly rent set at £241.

The flats will be built within the next 18 months, and officers say they will provide a ‘very good standard’ of housing for the people who need it.

A meeting of the strategic commissioning board was told that there are currently 11 people waiting for suitable accommodation, and a further seven young people identified as needing it soon.

Cabinet member in charge of social care, Councillor Eleanor Wills said: “The demand for supported living schemes at the moment throughout Tameside is outstripping our supply.

“There are significant savings for Tameside in terms of not having to place adults out of borough.”

The flats option is cheaper than people being housed out of the borough, and the new accommodation is expected to go towards £191,000 worth of savings from the department this year.

Council leader Brenda Warrington described it as an ‘invest-to-save scheme’.

There are already three flat schemes that offer 24/7 support to people with complex needs, at Town Lane, Carlton Springs and Saint Anne’s House.

Stephanie Butterworth, director of adult services, added: “The authority has a very long and successful record of supporting people with learning disabilities who need 24-hour support  in ordinary housing.

“We are starting to see an increase of the numbers of people with learning disabilities who are being placed out of the borough due to the inability of us to meet their needs locally.

She added that all of the people who live in these schemes will need ‘ongoing and constant support’, and it was first stage of a ‘much wider project’.

The plan is to ‘re-patriot a number of people who are currently living out of the borough who need to be living back in Tameside’.

“This is a long way from meeting all of the needs yet but it is a really good start for those out of borough people,”  Ms Butterworth said.

There are around 30 people who need to be resettled from outside of Tameside.