New homes for people with learning disabilities a step closer after £5m contract agreed

Islington Town Hall. Photograph: Islington Citizen

New supported living homes for people with learning disabilities are a step closer after politicians agreed the tender for a £5.2m contract to run it.

The council is looking for experts to support 11 people with a learning disability at a new purpose-built block of homes in Highbury.

Residents will get 24-hour support at the new service so they can live as independently as possible.

Some of them will have physical disabilities too, or additional needs such as profound learning disabilities or challenging behaviour.

The company which wins the £587,000 annual contract, will also be responsible for managing residents individual service funds, estimated at £467,000 a year.

The new homes mean people who are currently living outside Islington can get supported living in the borough.

The supported accommodation at Windsor Street can also be used for young people who are now cared for by the adults’ services and for those who can no longer live with a relative who cares for them.

The council hopes that building work will be finished by the autumn.

Contractors started work last year.

There will be four fully wheelchair-accessible ground floor flats with a shared living room and kitchen and seven more flats upstairs – two of them fully accessible and five more wheelchair-accessible.

The council’s Executive agreed the procurement strategy for the nine-year contract which will now go out to tender.

The contract will be awarded in June and start in October.