Fairoak tenants, staff and trustees welcomed councillors Jonathan Brook and Janet Battye from Westmorland and Furness Council on Friday 1st September as part of the National Housing Federation’s Starts at Home campaign.
Now in its seventh year, Starts at Home celebrates the value of care and support services and the difference that having a safe and secure place to call home can make to people’s lives.
2023’s campaign was an opportunity for organisations like Fairoak Housing Association to tell all political parties – both at national and regional level – how they can make a positive contribution for supported housing and its residents.
Westmorland and Furness Council is England’s third largest unitary authority by area and covers a region larger than Greater London, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands combined, and provides services to approximately 225,000 residents.
Cllr Brook is the Leader of Westmorland and Furness Council and was accompanied by Cllr Janet Battye, Chair of the Health and Adults Scrutiny Committee.
Cllr Brook was previously the Portfolio Holder for Housing at South Lakeland District Council and also headed-up Manna House, a Kendal-based homeless charity, so was already quite familiar with Fairoak ahead of his visit.
After a short visit to Fairoak’s offices in Kendal, the councillors, Fairoak Trustees Brian Shiach and Phil Glover along with Alison Barnes and John Holmes, took a short walk to visit two multiple occupancy properties in the town and had the opportunity to meet tenants and see their homes for themselves.
The first property is almost on the doorstep of Kendal Town Hall and the adjacent Council offices themselves and, upon opening the door, the councillors were welcomed by the wonderful aroma of freshly baked cup-cakes! Tenants were keen to show their guests their home and talk about what it’s like living in this house.
At the second property, Katie welcomed everyone into her self-contained flat which overlooks the river Kent and talked about how she enjoys the independence her property affords her.
Katie was also happy to show the councillors her OK Each Day tablet. This tablet, provided in collaboration with Alertacall, allows Katie to check in each day so staff know she is safe, report repairs and receive messages from the staff team. Katie explained that unfortunately there had recently been a water leak in one of the properties above so there was emergency repairs needed and that there was still a few bits and pieces to finish off but, thankfully, no major damage was caused.
On the top floor of the same building, Fairoak tenant Emily was busy working with her mum getting her apartment re-decorated and furnished after a complete re-working of the room layout. Emily told the councillors that she has lived here for nearly 15 years and was super pleased with the new layout of her home which has seen the living space opened up, along with a new kitchen and bathroom which enjoys lovely views across the town.
At the end of the visit, everyone (including tenants) returned to Fairoak’s offices for some lunch and a chance for the councillors to talk about what they had seen that morning.
Cllr Jonathan Brook said, “Events like today are vitally important and great opportunities for people like myself and Janet [Cllr Battye]. There’s nothing like being able to come and meet tenants, staff and trustees at Fairoak and see for ourselves the great work being done and also the need for this work to continue.”
“Westmorland and Furness Council is still very new and, in a challenging and changing environment, it’s vitally important that we maintain these links with organisations like Fairoak.
“As a new Council we are keen to hear from groups in our communities and encourage dialogue and collaboration between us all. We have the opportunity to do things differently, for new ways of working; where things may have been previously split between district and county councils, we can now take a holistic approach and have a more joined-up approach which, we hope, will mean actions can happen more quickly, more seamlessly.”
“Planning is one area that was previously carried out as a District function, but with highways and access a County Council function; [the new Authority] allows planners to work together as a closer team. Thinking about how new developments come about across our region, supported housing really forms part of that process where planners are made more aware of the needs and opportunities than perhaps they were before through opening-up conversations that they may not have had before.”
“Dialogue between organisations such as Fairoak and ourselves is key; communication is a two-way street, and it’s about us as a Council aware of what Fairoak can offer and how you can help us, because we recognise as a local authority that we can’t do everything on our own.”
“We need organisations such as Fairoak who are very much at the forefront of [supported housing] service delivery, but who are much more agile than we can be as a local authority. We recognise the advantages of working with other organisations to collectively better serve the local community and achieve positive results for people in our area.”
Cllr Janet Battye is Chair of the Health and Adults Scrutiny Committee which, she admits, has quite a broad remit: “My job is to take an overview and scrutinise what the council is doing; given the early days of the new unified local authority, we really are just getting started.”
“A lot of the understanding and mapping of housing needs here in our region is undertaken by public health, and they will be doing a broad needs assessment of the area.”
“But today’s visit to Fairoak has provided insight into some of the supported housing issues and how they are provided for locally. Being able to ‘tune in’ to the way things are being done here [by Fairoak] has proved really interesting.”
During the visit to one property, our guests were given a short demonstration of a tablet by Fairoak tenant Katie, a system which allows tenants to ‘check in’ each morning and also report any repairs or maintenance requests using the OK Each Day tablet, something which Cllr Battye took particular interest in:
“We’re going to be commissioning a report into the use of assistive technology in Health and Adult Care, and seeing one of Fairoak’s tenants using the system, being comfortable with it and reassured by it was very positive to see.”
Cllr Battye said that she wasn’t particularly familiar with Fairoak Housing Association until this visit had been arranged, however went on to say, “I think you’re doing exactly the right thing by inviting us in to show us what you’re doing and it has been a few hours very well spent. We’ll leave here with plenty to think about and our time with you will help inform our work in the future.”
“Myself and my colleague who is chairing the Environment and Communities Overview and Scrutiny Committee have been talking about housing as we’re really interested in seeing what the council can do to provide more housing for people with social needs, whether it’s supported housing or affordable housing.”
Lisa Chant, CEO of Fairoak Housing Association: “For us it’s been incredibly important to have the chance to speak with Jonathan and Janet because for a long time now we have struggled here in Cumbria to deliver supported housing for people with learning disabilities and Autism.”
“One of the issues has been that the County Council and the local District Council have been two separate entities, so trying to get all of that joined-up and make things happen has always been a problem.”
“From my point of view, I am more hopeful for the future thanks to the creation of the two new unitary authorities. The excuse of ‘it is somebody else’s responsibility’ has gone and going forward we will, together, be able to develop a supported independent living strategy for adults with learning disabilities here in Cumbria.” “We know from our experiences that this is what people want, what they need and which can be something we could all be very proud of.”