A Place Of My Own: A Consumer View of Sheltered Housing in Scotland
| Author | Fred Twine |
| Published date | 01 July 1988 |
| DOI | 10.1177/095207678800300309 |
| Date | 01 July 1988 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Review:
Fred
Twine,
Department
of
Sociology,
University
of
Aberdeen.
A
Place
Of
My
Own:
A
Consumer
View
of
Sheltered
Housing
in
Scotland.
by
Graham
Fennell,
Bield
Housing
Association.
1987.
£12.50
This
is
a
rather
basic
report
of
a
survey
of
tenants
in
sheltered
housing
run
by
three
Housing
Associations,
Bield,
Hanover
and
Kirk
Care.
It
describes
but
provides
only
limited
analysis.
The
reader
is
continually
frustrated
by
the
lack
of
any
cross
tabulations
of
the
data,
and
in
context
of
current
controversies
conceming
the
appropriate
role
of
sheltered
housing,
one
is
left
with
the
feeling
that
the
publica-
tion
is
something
of
a
public
relations
exercise
for
the
housing
associations
rather
than
one
that
provides
hard
analysis
of
the
issues.
It
is
no
great
revelation
to
find
that
the
overwhelming
majority
of
tenants
say
they
are
satisfied
with
sheltered
housing
provisions,
though
even
this
should
be
treated
with
some
circumspection
since
elderly
people
are
often
reluctant
to
express
criticism
of
the
social
provisions
available
to
them;
and
some
of
the
data
provided
is
open
to
other
interpretations.
Fundamentally,
the
study
lacks
a
control
group
of
elderly
persons
living
outside
sheltered
housing
with
whom
comparisons
might
be
made.
If
the
author
really
wishes
to
confront
earlier
analysis
carried
out
by
Butler,
Oldman
and
Greve
at
Leeds
University,
then
he
must
go
beyond
what
is
provided
in
this
study.
Indeed,
it
is
not
clear
that
the
author
has
fully
understood
the
trust
of
criticism
of
sheltered
housing
continued
in
the
Leeds
study.
The
key
issue
is
the
actual
extent
of
need
for
care
in
sheltered
housing
rather
than
a
'package
of
care'
in
the
person's
own
home.
It
is
not
that
sheltered
housing
caters
for
those
that
do
not
need
it,
though
this
may
sometimes
be
the
case,
but
it
is
that
groups
of
elderly
people
with
comparable
care
needs
are
treated
quite
differently
depending
upon
whether
or
not
they
can
obtain
access
to
sheltered
housing.
Hence
the
questioning
as
to
whether
the
dispropor-
tionate
amount
of
resources
entailed
in
providing
sheltered
housing
is
best
concen-
trated
on
that
minority
of
elderly
people
to
the
relative
neglect
of
those
with
com-
Public
Policy
and
Administration
Volume
3
No.
3
Winter
1988
45
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