Sir, I am writing in response to the well-expressed letter from Lee Upcraft last week regarding the closure of St Alban’s sheltered scheme in Wallingford.
The reasons for deciding to close St Alban’s without a firm planning decision are two-fold.
Firstly, the building is no longer suitable for our tenants. It requires considerable updating and as it stands, many of the units are empty. The large proportion of bedsits in the scheme cannot be considered suitable accommodation for new residents, and so we no longer permanently let these.
Whilst in some schemes we have remodelled or knocked through rooms, the layout does not easily lend itself to doing so here.
Secondly, we have a wide range of good quality sheltered schemes, flats and bungalows and want to make sure our tenants can access better accommodation without feeling rushed or under pressure.
The funding offered is a statutory Home Loss Disturbance grant to which all those people moving are rightly entitled. It is a fixed amount that we cannot alter.
All of this has been discussed with the residents in detail at regular meetings. All residents were invited to bring a friend or relative to the meeting, and also invited to speak to us individually.
We fully appreciate that it can be a very unsettling situation, but time and again we have seen older residents appreciate the move to better quality, spacious accommodation. As one sheltered resident recently said to me: ‘‘I am delighted to step out into my new garden. It makes all the difference. I am very happy with my new home.’’ This is the outcome we are seeking and we work very closely with each and every resident to help them move and settle in this way.
Maureen Adams
Director of Customer Services and Operations
Soha Housing
Didcot
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