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Extra Care Housing

  • Last modified date:
    21 July 2008
older man reading book

Extra Care Housing describes a type of specialised housing that provides independence and choice to adults with varying care needs and enables them to remain in their own home. Extra Care Housing should be able to provide most residents, if they so desire, with a home for the remainder their life, regardless of changes in their care needs

Services are provided in a purpose built, housing environment with care and support delivered to meet the individualresident's needs.  This type of housing provides 24-hour support, meals, domestic help, leisure and recreation facilities and a genuinely safe environment to its residents.  It can provide a base for out of hours or outreach services to the local community. Intermediate care facilities, to prevent avoidable admission to hospital or to help people return from hospital to their own home more quickly, can also be based at Extra Care Housing schemes.

Extra Care Housing Fund

The Department of Health Extra Care Housing Fund aims to encourage Local Authorities in England to provide greater housing choice to older people and other people with disabilities or long term conditions who may have support and/or care needs.  It is expected that the use of the Extra Care Housing Fund Grant will act as a stimulus to the development of a range of Extra Care Housing.

£80 million will be made available by the Department of Health to local authorities and their housing partners between 2008 and 2010, as set out in LASSL(DH)(2007)2  to provide new Extra Care Housing units.  This funding will be distributed through a bidding process during £40 million in 2008-09 and £40 million in 2009-10.  This is on top of £147 million made available between 2004 and 2008 detailed in the Extra Care Housing Funding 2004 to 2008 document.

Ivan Lewis announced the results of the Extra Care Housing Fund 2008-2010 bidding process on 21 July 2008. 25 sites will receive a share of the £80 million fund.

Administration of the Extra Care Housing Fund

The Housing Learning and Improvement Network (LIN), part of the Care Services Improvement Partnership (CSIP),  works closely with local authorities that are successful in bidding for funding from the Extra Care Housing Fund on behalf of the Department of Health. The Housing LIN is able to provide a wide range of support materials, available on their website. Local authorities and their partners will find the Extra Care Housing Toolkit, produced in October 2006 by the Housing LIN, and the new toolkit, More choice, greater voice, particularly helpful.

Evaluation of Extra Care Housing

The Department of Health has commissioned the Personal Social Services Research Unit (PSSRU), at the University of Kent, to carry out an evaluation of 19 of the new-build schemes funded under the Department of Health’s Extra Care Fund. The study will monitor the development of the schemes over time, track the long-term outcomes for schemes and residents, and compare the costs and outcomes with those for people who have moved into care homes.

An initial report (Darton et al 2007) will be followed by a series of papers as results of the longitudinal study become available. PSSRU has recently produced 2 newsletters for this project, Housing and Care for Older People Newsletter No. 2, giving a general overview of the PSSRU evaluation, and Evaluation of the Extra Care Housing Initiative Newsletter, designed to provide information about the PSSRU evaluation to residents and their relatives. A summary of the forthcoming report on the initial findings from the evaluation is also available: Evaluation of the Extra Care Housing Funding Initiative: Summary of Initial Findings, PSSRU Research Summary 4.

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