Cumberland's housing solutions approach to home adaptation and repair

CHIA takes a “Housing Solutions” approach to working with people with disabilities, their families and carers. This means that we will explore with you what different ways that may be available to meet your needs, and those of your carers.

We encourage people to think about longer-term solutions as well as things that are needed now, to provide immediate relief.

Longer-term solutions might include one or more of the following:

• moving to a more suitable home, if your current home is hard to adapt, or not suited to the longer-term needs of the individual / household
• options such as moving in with (or buying a home with) other family members
• talking to your landlord about options, if you rent from a housing association
• applying for sheltered housing or extra care housing
• for a family with a child or young person with a disability or additional needs, considering what their longer-term needs and options may be

As these longer -term solutions can take some time to put in place, we can support you with some more immediate solutions. This may include help from the handyperson, referral for temporary aids and equipment, temporary installations or adaptations to the home, and referrals to other services for further help.

If you expect to need to move at some point, we can provide support with this process. Mandatory DFG grants can be used to help with the costs of adaptations to the home you move to, as well as the costs of moving. See Appendix 3 for more details.