| 2,000 flats to be built for elderly |
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| Monday, 21 July 2008 | |
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More than 2,000 flats are to be built for the elderly, it was today announced.
The Government is to invest £80m to build extra care housing on twenty-five new sites across the country. The housing schemes will enable older people and those with dementia and long-term conditions to live in a home of their own. People who are unable to continue to live in their own homes have traditionally had their choices limited to care homes. However extra care housing gives people a home of their own where wide ranges of care and support services are provided on site. Tenants enjoy greater privacy, dignity and independence, couples can stay together, and social and leisure opportunities can be enjoyed at the resident's convenience. In addition, homeowners may be able to keep some of the equity in their property. The 25 new sites are: *Bethel Road Extra Care, Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council Health and Care Minister Ivan Lewis said: "Extra care housing is about offering people a choice. Too often I hear of cases where a couple who have been together for over fifty years are forced apart because one requires care and has no choice but to enter residential or nursing care leaving their partner at home. I want to change that. Extra care housing will give people a choice about how and where they choose to spend their later life." |
