Housing and Dementia Research Consortium

The Housing and Dementia Research Consortium (HDRC) is a membership group that has come together to achieve timely, high quality research focused on 'what works' in order to directly influence policy and practice in relation to housing with care for people with dementia. It was set up in 2008 in order to develop robust evidence on dementia care in a Housing with Care (HWC) setting and now has a membership of over 90 individuals and organisations. Members comprise providers and commissioners of housing with care, the Housing LIN and an array of other interested parties including academics, architects, advisors, researchers, policy makers and third sector organisations. The core members are five well-established providers of HWC: Housing21, Anchor, The ExtraCare Charitable Trust, Hanover, MHA. Between them, they represent the five biggest providers of HWC for older people in the UK.

Aims of the HDRC:

  • To shape the agenda of research into HWC to ensure its relevance and usefulness to housing providers and people with dementia;
  • To work together to have greater weight when applying for research funding;
  • To deliver more ambitious large-scale, multi-provider research;
  • To share findings from in-house research and evaluations.

The HDRC has developed a list of key research questions that are priorities for the consortium. The research coordinator, together with other members of the HDRC and external partners, is actively developing research proposals and seeking funding. She has also conducted a small in-house study of provision for people with dementia within HWC schemes from among the core members that will help inform future research development.

The HDRC website can be found at: http://housingdementiaresearch.wordpress.com/

If you would like further information or would like to join the HDRC, please contact the Research Coordinator, Dr Julie Barrett: j.barrett@worc.ac.uk; 0300 790 1122

A summary of the findings and report for the 'Extra Care' Housing and People with Dementia: a Scoping Review of the Literature carried out on behalf of the HDRC with funding from the JRF can be found on the 'Evaluation of extra care (opens new window)' pages of our website and on the Housing21 Website at www.housing21.co.uk/corporate-information/housing-21-dementia-voice/research (opens new window)