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Home Adaptations

Published: 14/04/2014

A policy to change the way decisions are made to adapt homes for older and disabled council tenants is expected to be approved at a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday (15 April). Designed for tenants who live in family houses or upper floor flats, the new policy will look at every case on an individual basis and will allow the relocation of some tenants as well as adapting existing homes. The Council aims to balance the need of the individual tenant, alongside the best use of its housing stock and the resources. Improvements to the timescales of adapting homes have already been made and the majority of the work currently done by the Council is to fit level access showers and stair lifts. Once these changes have been made it can be difficult to re let these properties to young families without removing the adaptations. The policy is backed up by a robust appeals process if tenants do not agree with a relocation and funds from the Tenants Incentive Scheme (TIS) will be utilised to help support the cost of moving home. Councillor Helen Brown, Cabinet Member for Housing said: “The new policy will guide decision making for major adaptations in Flintshire County Council’s family houses and upper floor flats and it aims to find the most suitable accommodation for our tenants. “The Council currently spends £1million per year adapting homes with stair lifts costing between £3,000 and £6,000 and level access showers around £4,500. The introduction of this policy would help the rising number of referrals for major adaptations to the Council’s housing stock.”