Claire will use her extensive technical and practical experience within social housing to provide a number of services to your organisation, enabling you to offer choice and provide creative and person-centred housing, with or without support.
Claire is happy to be flexible about working arrangements by undertaking project work as part of your existing team, by filling gaps within your team, by working with you on long-term, short-term or one-off assignments.
All her work will be tailored to meet your individual requirements, but here are some examples of how she may be able to assist:
- Strategy and Policy
- Research
- Project Development and Management
- Training - one to one, group work, presentations, workshops and conferences
- Advice, Information and Support
Please email Claire for further information and to discuss your requirements.
Strategy and Policy
Claire may be able to help you to:
- develop inclusive housing, person-centred, creative move-on and similar strategies in line with policy statements and good practices
- develop and/or review your policies and practices around housing and support, including Best Value Reviews and Disability Equality
- provide wider choice and inclusion
Claire's previous projects have included:
- working with a local authority to refine their housing strategy
in accordance with Valuing People and other policy statements - a Best Value review of a particular housing service for an RSL
- Supporting People validation visits, monitoring and reviewing against QAF
- facilitating senior management strategy planning and implementation sessions
Research
Claire may be able to help you with:
- small scale qualitative research and analysis using personal interviews, mystery shopping, focus groups, observation and document/data analysis
- small scale quantitive research and analysis using questionnaires/surveys and structured interviews
Claire's previous projects have included:
- small scale questionnaire design and analysis for a local authority to map housing, support and day opportunity requirements of people with learning disabilities in the area
- local market research on housing services and property availability
- individual semi-structured interviews with people with various disabilities to record their experiences of moving to new accommodation
- individual semi-structured and un-structured interviews, focus groups and documentary analysis for a government department
Project Development and Management
Claire may be able to help you to:
- develop creative and innovative housing solutions, with or without support
- plan and/or manage projects relating to housing and support, such as re-provision projects
- plan and work with individuals and families so they may access suitable accommodation
- put policy into practice
Claire's previous projects have included:
- the development and management of a project to support and plan for the future with people with learning disabilities living with older carers
- the development, acquisition and housing management of properties rented to people with learning disabilities on behalf of a national charity
- acquisition of properties for sale on a shared ownership basis to people with mental health issues on behalf of an RSL
- specialist staff interviews, recruitment and induction
- preparation of capital and revenue bids
Training - one to one, group work, presentations, workshops and conferences
Claire may be able to provide bespoke training, workshops, presentations, conferences and facilitated group sessions around:
- housing and support options and solutions
- shared ownership and other home ownership options
- planning and delivering housing and support to people with disabilities
- making services accessible
- Disability awareness and Disability Equality Duty
Claire's previous projects have included:
- one to one training for an RSL officer providing new housing products
- training for several RSLs so that they are able to provide low cost home ownership products to people with varying disabilities including learning disabilities, mental health issues, physical disabilities, sensory loss, HIV+ and other long-term disabilities
- working with housing providers to enable them to understand the needs of people with learning disabilities so that they can provide services to this 'new' client group
- planning and delivering a national programme of training on housing and disability issues
- workshops to help individuals and their supporters think about housing and support in the future, including people affected by campus closures and re-provision initiatives
- numerous workshops and presentations at local and national events
If you would rather book a pre-planned course, please email Claire for further information and dates about the following:
Low Cost Home Ownership for People with Long-term Disabilities
Is your organisation offering home ownership as an option to people
with long-term disabilities? Are you inclusive in your marketing and sale
of HomeBuy and other homes for sale?
In partnership with Advance Housing, Claire is providing training to RSLs on low cost home ownership opportunities for people with disabilities. This programme provides practical advice to enable organisations to develop a shared ownership product for people with disabilities or to troubleshoot and fine tune an existing scheme. At the end of the training your organisation will:
o be able to sell their new-build or resulting resale properties to people
with varying disabilities, in accordance with Disability Equality Duty and
other equal opportunity statements.
o understand how to bid for and deliver schemes using HOLD (Home Ownership
for people with Long-term Disabilities) Housing Corporation funding
Issues covered in the training include:
- differentiation during the application and assessments process
- affordability – Income Support Mortgage Interest and Housing Benefit issues
- support and adaptations
- repairs and maintenance
- selling and moving on
- how Advance and other organisations have developed and delivered their programmes
The training day also includes a facilitated action planning session, so that your organisation can think strategically about how they will change, plan and deliver this new service.
Housing options for people with learning disabilities
This popular session helps individuals, carers, supporters and professionals
to understand some of the housing options available to people with learning
disabilities. It provides some practical advice about how to explore the
options and tips for accessing housing services. Case studies and practical
examples help to bring to life some of the options, demonstrating that they
can become a reality.
Choice Based Lettings
Along with a colleague, Claire is developing training about Choice Based
Lettings.
Following on from research undertaken for the Department of Health, one course will be specifically aimed at local authorities and housing provider administrators of the scheme. It will examine some of the good and poor practices identified by the research and will help providers understand how they can make their schemes more accessible for people with disabilities and the type of procedural adjustments they may be expected to make to their services under the Disability Discrimination Act. Their will also be practical sessions looking at information that is provided to the public and how it is disseminated.
There will also be a session for individuals and those who support them. This will provide practical and accessible advice about what to expect when applying for housing through the scheme, how to get the best from the scheme and what to do if you feel that your disability has not been taken into account.
For more information about these schemes, or to book, please email Claire.
Advice, Information and Support
Claire may be able to provide:
- Casework, person-centred planning and support for individuals and families, including housing brokerage
- Support for staff so they can meet service users' needs and expectations
- Written and accessible information leaflets, booklets and information sheets individualised to suit your organisation and service users' requirements
Claire's previous projects have included:
- advising support provider organisations about the housing options available to particular individuals
- writing information sheets and practical guides for national organisations
- housing case work for a charity
- scheme open/information days for individuals and families on behalf of several organisations
- researching and developing housing plans for numerous individuals
- writing plain English and easy-read/pictorial booklets
