Maintenance and Opportunity

Maintenance and Opportunity

Maintenance and opportunity might feel like strange concepts to join together, what we mean is that there are varying degrees of maintenance required at different almshouses, and the opportunities to undertake maintenance also vary as does that ability to undertake it. As almshouse residents live independently some maintenance can be undertaken by individuals and this ‘ownership’ can reinforce a feeling of independence, that their home is their own, and a sense of belonging.

In the interviews, residents often talked about the importance of a quick response when something needs repairing, when this type of responsive call is acted on quickly it is really appreciated, but the response times vary. Equally, there are some residents who are very happy to have the opportunity to undertake maintenance and improvements to their home, this can be from installing an additional radiator to looking after communal gardens or their own garden. Making small adjustments to your living space can impact on other aspects of your life, as one resident commented after being able to install their own decking:

“I put the decking at the side, yes, it was lovely. Then, you see everybody as they’re coming past, you know, “Hello, … how are you doing?”

(Resident 32).

Another resident explained how they personalized their almshouse home upon moving in:

“We had new cupboards put in, and we had the bedroom done out. We had the bathroom done out and we’ve had everything done, so that this was going to be our forever home. This was going to be the last place.”

(Resident 32)

Where something is structural or integral to the almshouses there is little opportunity for residents to change anything, this can vary from the difficulty in negotiating stepped access (either inside or outside) to having a kitchen that you do not feel confident using or find difficult to use due to low level cupboards for example. Making things easy to use provides a lot of reassurance for residents, being able to change something in your own home or improve it to suit your changing needs is important as it can counteract feelings of insecurity or fear of falling for example. Making life easier to navigate as you get older is important, having the opportunity to introduce:

“… all these little things that make life easy. You need to have that, as you get older. You don’t want a battle.”

(Resident 38)

and not all residents will want to undertake maintenance or do any work to their home:

“Everything gets done for you, you don’t have to do anything yourself, which is a good thing”

(Resident 14) .

In some cases, maintenance (particularly decorating) has, over time, devolved from the charity to the residents, where in the past it was undertaken by the charity on a cyclical basis (every 5 or 10 years for example) “… we used to have our flats decorated every five years. But now, if you want anything done, you’ve got to pay for it yourself.” (Resident 7). This gradual change in the way maintenance is undertaken, from charity to resident, was not usual and generally we found residents commenting on the level of service and responsiveness from the charity in terms of repairs where if:

“… anything goes wrong, your taps are not working properly, your toilet doesn’t work properly, anything, you’ve got a blockage somewhere, ring them up and they’re out. It’s absolutely great. That’s peace of mind for you.”

(Resident 32).

The importance of quick response times was acknowledged by residents and staff alike, and they both acknowledged how this differed from some other types of housing:

“… the standard of our properties compared to other housing associations, it’s off the scale compared to it. The repair service that we offer is off the scale.”

(Staff 7 and 8)

As well as opportunities for the residents to do minor repairs, adjustments and improvements to their own home the charities we spoke to all have a rolling programme of improvements and maintenance, this either occurs when needed in a responsive mode (thinking about the important issue of timescales in the above paragraph) or in a proactive mode taking the opportunity when a property becomes empty to improve it:

“If anything needs doing for the residents, it gets done, end of story. No messing about. When a house goes empty, they completely do it. If it needs a new kitchen, that kitchen is ripped out, and there’s a new kitchen put in. A new bathroom, it’s ripped out and a new one put in.”

(Governance 21)

There are some circumstances, and particularly with older (and sometimes listed) properties, where residents understand that the charity is doing the best they can given the age of the property and/or the planning restrictions that could be in place if the homes are listed or in a conservation area. Whilst it is:

“… very nice to be able to live in a listed Almshouse … I do wish they would modernise them in a way … there is nowhere even to put your Hoover. I mean, 100 years ago, people didn’t have a Hoover … There are no cupboards to put a broom in, even.”

(Resident 38)

Not all residents will want to, or will be able to, undertake low level maintenance, having the choice is important for residents but may be harder to manage for staff and trustees “I don’t have to ask for outside help, if I don’t want to” (Resident 13) .