My view of the sector – Angela Currie

As I settle into my new role in Hanover, my focus is turning to the two major questions that are on my mind.

Like other older people specialists, Hanover has now moved away from building sheltered housing and focused on building housing with care models. This is entirely appropriate given what we know about older people wanting to live independently within a group setting but have access to care and support if and when they need it. We are now asking ourselves, how do we combine the aspirations of modern, accessible design, deliver on carbon zero and adopt the HAPPI principles but build developments that stack up financially, and are affordable? 

The burden of risk still seems to sit with social housing providers when it comes to combining housing, health, and social care services into models like this that meet modern expectations. Housing with care assumes there will be a care service located within the building. This means office space and other requirements need to be met but the capital costs are still met through traditional routes with no input from health or social care meaning ultimately tenants pay for it through rents. The commissioning of health and social care services continues to be done on a short-term basis meaning there are no guarantees that the design modifications or the services being provided will always exist. The recent review of Adult Social Care in Scotland did little to reassure me that joined up thinking, funding, and commissioning of older people’s housing as a highly effective prevention approach will become the norm anytime soon.

We are also looking ahead to the type of service model we want to shift to over the next few years. As a national organisation with a widely dispersed but traditional operating model we are now considering how that will change post pandemic or should we say in the new covid era, given it is here to stay. Our teams will become much more agile with remote working the norm. We plan to embrace many of the Office 365 tools that help us be more efficient but really modernise and improve the service offer to our tenants and owners. The housing service of today will look and feel very different in a few years and meaningful engagement with our residents to promote independence will be at the heart of our model.

Change is ahead for all of us - but that doesn’t worry me. We must keep evolving to meet the changing expectations of our current and future customers. Covid has been a catalyst for change in many ways. To meet the challenge of redesign we have a number of strategy days planned with our Board this year and a full engagement project with our residents and workforce to help us paint a new vision for Hanover. Whilst the negative of impact of covid continues to bite, it is also a time for recovery and renewal and with that comes a sense of hope and excitement for what the future will bring.

Would you like to have your say?

‘My view of the sector’ will be a regular feature in Housing Scotland Weekly, looking at the current social housing landscape, the challenges and opportunities, and what housing associations and co-operatives need in order to thrive. If you would like your chief executive, director, or chair to be featured, please email features@sfha.co.uk