Abbeyfield Buckland Monachorum Society

Abbeyfield Buckland Monachorum Society’s sheltered housing scheme is helping older people to stay in the countryside they love and retain their independence.

Social Problem

According to the National Housing Federation (NHF), there’s an acute shortage of sheltered housing places for older people, and an extra 167,000 units will need to be built by 2040.[1] Finding affordable sheltered accommodation is particularly difficult in rural areas, and it can be even harder to find accommodation that’s suitable for couples, meaning that older people can feel trapped in unsuitable homes or forced to move far away from their friends and family.

Organisation

Abbeyfield offers a range of housing for older people across the UK. There are around 93 independent Abbeyfield Member Societies across England and Wales. One of these is Abbeyfield Buckland Monachorum Society (ABMS), which runs a sheltered housing scheme called Pilcher’s Field on the edge of Dartmoor in Devon.

Loan

ABMS wanted to expand Pilcher’s Field from 10 to 15 studio apartments. To fund the whole project they used a combination of grants and a Charity Bank loan. ABMS also borrowed an additional £137,000 to refinance an older loan that was on a higher interest rate.

Impact

The five new studio apartments are scheduled to  be completed by March 2025. Residents will pay an affordable all-inclusive fee rent and service charges which will cover the cost associated with  cooked meals, heat, electricity and maintenance. Along with their own bedroom, bathroom, lounge and kitchenette, residents will benefit from the communal lounge and dining area, laundry facilities, maintained gardens and a 24-hour emergency care line. So, they’ll be part of a supportive community, while retaining their privacy and independence. What’s more, four of the apartments will be suitable for couples.

“We needed to have the loan approved before we could get the Homes England grant approved. We wanted to move quickly, as the fear was the quote we had for our preferred contractor would soon go up, due to wage rises, inflation and so on. Charity Bank was very responsive, which meant that we could tell Homes England, ‘Yes, we’ve got the loan funding agreed.’ By the end of January, we knew we had all our funding in place and by March, we had circa £480k of the grant funding in place which also helped with development cash flow.”

Nicholas Maxwell, Treasurer of Abbeyfield Buckland Monachorum Society

“I lived in a four-bedroom house, and it was just getting too much. Here, I have my food set before me, and I have plenty of space to follow my hobbies. People can sit and talk before lunch and do things together.”

A Pilcher’s Field resident