Elderly Home Exchange
Tackling Fuel Poverty
How it will work...
Value.
- In our EHE project their home, their asset, is released into a community housing co- operative and rented to a family needing a 2/3 bedroom home.
- In exchange the elders receive their own single story, one bedroom, modular Power Home.
- The rent paid by the incoming family covers the full living costs of it’s owner now living happily in our modular powered village.
- The rent covers the maintenance cost of their own and their modular home. The rent covers the cost of administrative support and general maintenance.
- The EHE project releases much needed family size homes.
- 1 house becomes 2, 10 homes become 20.
- The exchange homes under-go a full renewable energy retrofit and are made as energy efficient as possible.
- Priority to accommodate the Exchange Homes is given to community members on the vulnerable tenants register.
Other Benefits.
The breadth of the well-being benefits achieved through the EHE is fairly easy to see and evaluate. All for the cost of building a small modular village.
The EHE homes are estimated at 85k per home. Some of their benefits are:
- The elderly residents are part of a community and the EHE new homes bring the elderly residents a range of social benefits. They no longer feel isolated but have the privacy of their own home. Loneliness is one of the biggest causes of anxiety and stress.
- The EHE community residents can be as active or passive as they chose.
- They have accessible transport.
- They no longer have financial worries.
- Their asset covers their living expenses until their final check out or their need to move to a specialist care facility.
On that final check out their home reverts back to their family. The family have the option to keep renting to the housing cooperative, to sell to the cooperative or sell privately. They will have already agreed to a long-term lease. No family will be removed from the exchange house without adequate notice. The Community Housing Cooperative will be responsible for any re-housing needs. In some cases the EHE owner or their families may have already agreed a rent to buy option with their tenants. This overcomes the need for large deposits which young people in particular struggle to find.
The EHE project is an achievable well thought out model that demonstrates how ageing people can use their own asset to sustain the last years of their lives in comfort. It is a lift and drop project repeatable in any community, on any piece of land. The project can be scaled up or downsized to 4 properties. Wherever there is a piece of land the option to fit a Power Home exists. With 668 from 3800 + residents being over 65 and worrying about poverty in their pension years. What better place to launch this innovative housing-solution?
