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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.”