Welsh Journals

9. MANAGING CARE: SPECIAL NEEDS HOUSING IN WALES Ian Shaw, Rodney Bull and Howard Williamson The housing association world is in ferment. Within that ferment the provision of special needs or supported housing for those people in need of additional care and support, together with a more intensive style of housing management, faces a series of sea changes. Local authority Social Services Departments are midway through the preparation of Social Care Plans which will lead to major changes in the relationship between state and voluntary sector provision, and to significant shifts in the position of the service consumer, each of which are heavy with implication for special needs housing. National Health Service reforms could readily lead to a substantial redrawing of the boundaries between the health and social services. Promised local government reorganization adds a further layer to the change and uncertainty affecting special needs provision of all kinds. Closer to home, the capital and revenue funding systems for housing associations have radically changed in Wales over the past two years. Allied to a marked gravitation towards quality assurance monitoring and strategic planning initiatives, these changes all take place in the context of a newly distinct policy and funding framework for special and general needs housing provision in Wales, which is still in its infancy. The 1980s witnessed a continued reaction against traditional large-scale hostel provision, with shared eating, sleeping and living facilities. Following the 1988 Housing Act, Tai Cymru (Housing for Wales) was established in April 1989, taking over the previous role of the London-based Housing Corporation. In parallel, the Welsh Federation of Housing Associations (WFHA) was formed, thus giving distinct identity to Welsh developments in the housing association field that have already been traced in Contemporary Wales (Smith and Williams, 1991). Support for special needs developments is also provided through the Special Needs Housing Advisory Service in Wales (SNHAS).