This week’s HLINks: 14 - 18 December 2020

Christmas HLIN

#Jeremytalks

Welcome to #Jeremytalks and my weekly piece to audio to coincide with the Housing LIN's weekly bulletin, HLINks, week ending Friday, 18 December. This is the last issue of 2020.

What a year it has been, dominated by Covid-19! Despite this, if you are a regular reader, you will know that we have been very productive on all fronts. However, we are taking a well-deserved winter news break and will be resuming HLINks on Friday, 8 January 2021.

But before we sign off for the year, this week has been another hive of activity. All the presentations and recordings from last week's virtual Summit are now available on our website.

We are also delighted to announce that we have teamed up with St Monica Trust to undertake ground-breaking research to study the true impact of Covid-19 on retirement villages and extra care housing schemes across England. Funded by the Dunhill Medical Trust, the RE-COV project is surveying the sector to understand their experiences during the pandemic, including the effectiveness of measures taken to protect the health and well-being of residents and staff. Sticking with Covid, Professor Marmot's influential Review was published this week, setting out the national evidence on health inequalities exposed by the pandemic, including housing.

On the policy front, the inaugural Housing LIN TAPPI Inquiry's inception meeting took place with the first of four Inquiry sessions being held in the New Year. At the same time, it was the final hearing of the APPG on Housing and Care for Older People Inquiry on housing for those living with dementia. Sponsored by Anchor Hanover, the Inquiry's report will be launched in February 2021.

In this week’s HLINks, you can also read about our latest Inspirational Achievements – the latest chapter on the transformation of Central & Cecil’s Dora House into an affordable, contemporary 55+ offer in St John’s Wood. And also take tour of our curated round-up of other news and events on later life living with regard to homes and communities, health and social care, design and technology, planning matters and more, including reference to the new RICS report on almshouses, a model of community housing for an ageing population, and social enterprise Zinc’s report on start-up innovations in later life.

Check these out and register here to keep in touch with all our news alerts and other notifications of your choice, sent direct to your inbox. And remember you can also follow us via our Twitter feeds: @HousingLIN, @HousingLINews and @HLINConsult

Lastly, if you would like to talk to us about any matters highlighted in this week’s issue, share learning about your work and/or discuss how our consultancy services can assist you, email ‘Jeremy talks’ at: info@housinglin.org.uk.

You can also listen to #Jeremytalkshere

Thanks for listening, stay connected and, above all, be safe over this festive period.

Jeremy


A final message

At the end of last year, the Housing LIN's Jeremy Porteus wrote a blog setting out his vision for 2020 and keys asks for this past year. Looking back on year we have all had, despite the significant impact of Covid-19 on all our lives and the resultant challenging environment faced, the Housing LIN has held on to these asks. From producing guidance on specialised supported housing and contributing to a new national statement of expectations; from reframing HAPPI for work readiness in the light of the pandemic to digital transformation and exploring new 'tech ready' TAPPI solutions; and from creating more resilient communities and embedding CollaborAGE, the Housing LIN has worked tirelessly to help influence national and local policies and guidance and to inform, consult and support practice development. We look forward to building on these with you to frame a new vision for 2021 that address and respond to the challenges ahead.

Please note that this week’s HLINks is the last of 2020 and we will be resume our weekly bulletin on Friday, 8 January 2021.

Lastly, the Housing LIN would like to thank Willmott Dixon for their support in producing this newsletter.

Stay connected, stay well and, above all, be safe over the festive period. Seasons’ Greetings from everyone at the Housing LIN!