A laundry and overnight support service for elderly people living in sheltered housing is putting “severe pressure” on a council’s entire housing budget, it has been revealed.

The Sheltered Plus scheme, which covers 127 properties in Canterbury and Whitstable, had to be subsidised by taxpayers to the tune of £200,000 last year.

A report heard by the Canterbury City Council’s overview committee detailed that the service run by the authority is significantly over budget and is now facing major changes to make significant savings.

Officers have proposed cutbacks in order to alleviate the impact on and protect the overall Housing Revenue Account (HRA) - the budget for all housing services throughout the district.

The service covers residents living in housing blocks Whitgift Court, Collard House and Cranmer House in Canterbury, and Lang Court in Whitstable.

Canterbury City Council set up the scheme in 2018, which has been propped up by the HRA every year since.

When it was established, councillors guaranteed the scheme would go unchanged for its first two years.

However, a working group has now reviewed the service and is recommending major changes.

Under the scheme, the council houses tenants while also providing a laundry service and a ‘night reassurance service’, which sees the blocks manned overnight in case residents need assistance.

A council officer told the meeting on May 22 that the service is not replicated anywhere else in Kent after CCC continued its service when every other authority scrapped a preceding scheme called Enhanced Sheltered Housing.

As the laundry and nightwatch services do not count as “landlord services”, tenants have to pay for them via service charges.

“The actual cost of the service is unaffordable for many applicants, which is why there's a need to subsidise it from the HRA,” the officer explained.

“Our sheltered housing stock generally is ageing and the condition is gradually deteriorating and that means many of the flats and bungalows are quite small and very dated.”

Of the 127 properties in the scheme, 65% do not meet current internal space standards - one of the reasons why an organised laundry service is provided due to many never being fitted with washing machines. Several others do not have wifi connectivity either.

The committee was also told that fewer and fewer people are applying for the scheme, with Sheltered Plus properties staying vacant for an average of 19 weeks between tenants.

In 2024/25, there was an unfunded budget shortfall of £33.70 per property per week on average, more than £218,000 in total.

The council’s whole sheltered housing service saw a total loss of £576,000 - with the vast majority of that coming from lost income on empty properties.

The report described this as “completely unsustainable” and recommended that the laundry and night reassurance services be scrapped in their current format, subject to a consultation with residents to find alternatives.

Cllr Pip Hazelton (Lab), cabinet member for housing at CCC, told the committee the proposals were a “really well-considered and evidence-based approach to modernising our services”.

She added: “It balances financial sustainability with the needs of tenants.

“By embracing technological advances in telecare, telehealth and CCTV, we can enhance safety and support without the need for overnight staff while ensuring central control is always there in the event of an emergency.

“Changes to the laundry service are also pragmatic – half the tenants don’t use it, but all pay for it.”

Cllr Peter Old (Lib Dem) said: “Our hospitals are full of people that are medically fit, but they can’t be discharged because they've got nowhere to go.

“Here we’ve got accommodation that is lying empty, surely there's a deal to be done [with the NHS].”

Night reassurance staff are expected to conduct health and safety checks, which include things like washing stair rails and lift buttons.

An officer at the meeting admitted the procedure began during the Covid pandemic, but “since then, it’s continued really as a way of keeping the night reassurance staff occupied and making sure they’re doing something throughout the night”.

The committee voted to commence a consultation, which started in late May and lasts until August, including one-on-one meetings with all tenants.

The council officer stressed there would be “no diminution of service,” the council will just change the way it provides the services.

A CCC spokesman confirmed that under the plans, residents will even see service charges decrease, likely by about £30 per week.