Adaptations to homes

We carry out adaptations for our tenants and for people in private accommodation through the grants scheme so that they can live comfortably in their homes. During the year we spent £29.5 million (£16.4m public and £13.1m private) on adaptations ranging from fitting handrails or ramps to more extensive work such as extensions, stair lifts, change of heating and replacement of baths with showers. In 2007-08 we spent £14.3m on major and £2.1m on minor adaptations in Housing Executive homes.

Over the course of the year we approved 1,666 Disabled Facilities Grants at a cost of £14 million. Our performance against new targets introduced in 2006-07 improved significantly and average processing times were reduced by over 20% during the year. Over 70% of preliminary inspections were carried out within two weeks of receiving a recommendation from an Occupational Therapist and 70% of schedules of work were issued within four weeks of the inspection.

The speed of processing Disabled Facilities Grants continued to improve. During 2007-08 the total average time taken by the Housing Executive in processing Disabled Facilities Grants reduced by 25% from 31 weeks to 23 weeks. 72% of schedules of works were issued within 4 weeks of the inspection of the property compared to 60% in 2006-7 and 57% of approvals were issued within 8 weeks of receiving completed documentation compared to 41% in 2006-07.

Supporting People

Since 2003 we have administered the Supporting People strategy in Northern Ireland, working in partnership with other statutory bodies to commission housing related support services.  The programme is about helping vulnerable people remain independent in their own homes with an appropriate level of care.

In Northern Ireland there are 121 providers delivering services in approximately 827 accommodation based schemes. In addition, there are 84 floating support schemes providing services throughout Northern Ireland. These services enable some 23,000 of Northern Ireland’s most vulnerable people to live independently and in doing so contribute to the achievement of important national and local objectives.

In 2007-08 £60.97 million was invested in housing support services to vulnerable people. This included the continuation of services in existing schemes as well as for the development of new services.

A total of 27 new schemes were commissioned during the year including 12 accommodation based schemes, three changes to existing schemes, three new floating support schemes and extensions to nine existing floating support schemes.