Sheltered housing

Pobby

Would it be possible for someone retired to sell their home and move out of the area and get housing association/council sheltered housing.The move would be about 200 miles.

tanith

Not sure about this but I think you would have to be living in the area to qualify for a Sheltered Housing project... they could always buy a retirement home in the chosen area...

I enquired for an elderly relative in Milton Keynes and that was the first question they asked...

Solar1

From experience this would likely depend on the age of the individuals, the council tax banding on the property they are selling and if they have relatives in the area which they wish to move to . Contact the council and / or Housing association in the area you wish to move to and ask their conditions.

jenniferpa

I'm 99% sure that if you sold your home, you would be considered to be intentionally homeless, and therefore would not be eligible for council housing, sheltered or otherwise. Housing associations may be a little different, although I believe they use a points system which would make most people in this situation ineligible. In a way, it's irritating - where my mother used to live there was little sheltered housing that WASN'T council operated, so it was impossible to find a place that was suitable. She ended up moving about 80 miles away, and purchasing a unit.

Savvy_Sue

the question always asked when I worked for an HA which had sheltered housing was whether the person had a local connection, ie friends, family, used to live here etc.

The capital from the sale of a property did knock points off, but AFAIK it didn't completely rule out the possibility of getting a place in sheltered housing. We were sometimes quite flexible because not all of our sheltered housing was very popular ...

As solar says, the place to ask is in the area the person wants to move to. And there are all sorts of different kinds of sheltered housing as well, some run by the council, some by housing associations which have a broad portfolio, and some by organisations which ONLY do sheltered housing.

Actually, have just remembered, it must be possible to do this because several years ago my uncle sold his flat and moved into a sheltered scheme. That was in London.

Murtle

It also depends how much accommodation there is available, one place in London I worked at didn't have enough old people for it's sheltered housing so they would take requests from other areas from people wanting to move into the area. It's worth a call to the area they want to move to, to check it out.

M

Dora_the_Explorer_5

Murtle wrote:

It also depends how much accommodation there is available, one place in London I worked at didn't have enough old people for it's sheltered housing so they would take requests from other areas from people wanting to move into the area. It's worth a call to the area they want to move to, to check it out.

M

Hope this helps. If someone can no longer manage their own home they can usually apply for a sheltered housing place and sell their own property. As more and more older people are being supported in the community and not being shuffled into care homes, sheltered housing is becoming scarcer than it used to be. Most of this housing is allocated through local council schemes who put the needs of residents of the district first and then give consideration to anyone wanting to move to a different area to be near family.
Murtle - is there still spare sheltered housing in London ?

Ted_Hutchinson

A while ago our local radio mentioned that the Sheltered accomodation in Lincolnshire was being underused and places were available. So it's well worth asking.
You may find this help Vacancy Search

Murtle

There was spare sheleted housing in Lambeth at the end of last year, acceptances were being given to a number of external applications!

jenniferpa

Ted_Hutchinson wrote:

A while ago our local radio mentioned that the Sheltered accomodation in Lincolnshire was being underused and places were available. So it's well worth asking.
You may find this help Vacancy Search

Were they particularly specific about what/where they are? Lincs was where I was looking for my mother at the end of last year, and to say I was uninspired was an understatement. This comment is not specific to lincolnshire, but was typical: what idiot thinks it's a good idea to have second floor sheltered flats with no lift? Or baths and no showers? What I found was that many of the units were only suitable for the active older person, and I'm not sure why an active older person would want to go into shelterd housing.

Jennifer

Ted_Hutchinson

jenniferpa wrote:

Lincs was where I was looking for my mother at the end of last year, and to say I was uninspired was an understatement.

I think these Sheltered Schemes with Vacancies were the ones mentioned on the radio. It's a while since I moved from Boston but I seem to remember the Wyberton sheltered housing was quite reasonable but I must admit things have changed a bit in that area so it could have gone downhill.