A PIONEERING housing provider has been awarded funding that will enable it to adapt homes and directly improve the lives of people with disabilities across Scotland, enabling them to live as independently as possible.
By successfully securing £430,000 in funding from the Scottish Government, Glasgow City Council, and The City of Edinburgh Council, Blackwood Housing and Care will deliver adaptations to give people with disabilities more dignity and make their lives more accessible.
The funding will enable Blackwood to carry out a range of works, including converting bathrooms to wet rooms and building handrails, grabrails and ramps to assist customers with mobility issues.
It will also ensure assistive equipment such as hoists and specialist toilets and baths can be put in place, allowing customers to live more independently and aiding their personal care and support services.
In addition, part of the funding will also go towards enhancing Blackwood’s bespoke digital care system, CleverCogs™, which allows customers to communicate with carers, as well as friends and family, and also gives users control over their support and care.
Paul Bellamy, Property Investment Manager at Blackwood Housing and Care, said: “This is important funding which will improve the lives of so many people with disabilities across the country.
“It will enable us to further integrate housing and care support, ensuring our customers can live as independently as possible, in homes that have been designed to suit their care and support requirements.”
“One of the many lessons we have learnt from COVID-19 is the increasing importance of the role that quality housing plays when caring for vulnerable people.
“We have always focused our efforts on combining innovative technology with accessibility and a high quality of care, meaning our customers can grow with homes that can adapt to their specific needs.”
Some of the funding will also cover the costs of revamping a care home in North Lanarkshire to house a new tenant in a home suitable for the high level of care support required.
Blackwood submitted its requests for Stage Three adaptations funding – used to adapt properties to suit the needs of an existing or new tenant – from Scottish Government, Glasgow City Council, and The City of Edinburgh Council, earlier this year.
Blackwood aims to help people live their life to the full, by providing services which support individuals in exercising their right to have choice and control over their lives in a home which is suitable and adaptable to their needs.
As Blackwood works in 29 of Scotland’s 32 local authorities, it is more widely dispersed than most other care or housing providers and has embraced the challenges of taking housing and care into innovative areas at a time when funding is increasingly limited.
For more information, please visit: https://www.blackwoodgroup.org.uk
