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SHAPE Advisory Group members met in Birmingham on 12–13 October for their first in-person Away Day, reflecting on progress, shaping priorities and turning evidence into action. Discussions also looked ahead to the SHAPE Challenge Fund, which launches at a special HAPPI Hour webinar on Tuesday 27 October.

For Accessible Homes Week, a new Habinteg survey has found that one in five UK adults report that they or a family member experienced outcomes such as a delayed hospital discharge or a move into residential care, because a home could not meet their accessibility needs.

We are pleased to share this new Housing LIN Viewpoint (No. 121), in which Dominic Hailey of Collado Collins Architects speaks with MTVH’s Claire Wise about demystifying supported housing, removing stigma from the language we use, and unlocking small-scale development to boost supply.

Published as part of Accessible Homes Week, this new Housing LIN Case Study No. 183 by Stephen Melvin of Atelier Architecture & Design explores how Ossulton Court, an award-winning development of 30 apartments in Uxbridge, brings together contemporary design and accessibility with the social principles of the traditional almshouse.

In this week’s HLINks, we recap last week's AI State of the Nation report and accompanying webinar, highlight DHSC’s telecare and digital switchover guidance, welcome Just Checking as a sponsor, hear from the Future Leaders cohort, mark Homeshare Week, and explore cohousing lessons in a blog from Barefoot Architects.

Barefoot Architects share five takeaways from an event co-hosted by UK Cohousing Network (UKCN) in Bristol. Cohousing pioneer Charles Durrett joined a room full of Southwest  housing professionals  and prospective residents to explore examples of “High Functioning Neighbourhoods” that have community built in as standard, and how to create them successfully.

The Department of Health and Social Care have published guidance for housing providers in England on telecare and the digital switchover. It sets out the essential steps organisations should take to help safeguard telecare users during the digital phone switchover by the end of January 2027, including information on data sharing, fire safety considerations and options for upgrading analogue telecare systems.

Published today, our new AI State of the Nation Report draws on sector survey responses to show how AI is being adopted in specialist and supported housing, and where strategy, evaluation and resident involvement still need to catch up.

The Housing LIN’s SW Leadership Set met this week for discussions on latest specialist and supported policy developments and impact on commissioning, developing and managing housing with care across the SouthWest.

Homesharing is an important intergenerational living choice and often overlooked in UK housing policy and practice. We are pleased to support Homeshare Week 2026, to highlight the benefits of homesharing and share resources. Find out more on our dedicated topic page.