Sheltered housing schemes get residents online Thursday, July 15, 2010 - 09:48

104 sheltered housing schemes from across the country have received a total of £402,000 in funding as part of the first stage of an outreach activity - Get Digital - to help residents in sheltered housing get online. The money - up to a maximum of £5000 for each scheme - is used for computers, software, printers and other digital equipment. In-house IT training for residents is provided by Digital Unite tutors.

The last of the money was awarded on Thursday 15th July 2010, to 30 sheltered housing schemes in the North of England. This follows similar funding made across the rest of England over the past few months. Further money is available for another 91 schemes in a second round of funding which will close on 3rd September 2010.

Doreen Thomas, Lifestyle Coordinator at Testway Housing in Hampshire, one of the first schemes to receive funding, said,

"We were delighted to get this grant. Both staff and residents are really excited about the project. A Get Digital tutor has worked with our residents at one of our housing for older people schemes in Romsey. It's already opened up a whole new world for some of them."

John MacLeod, a housing scheme resident in Romsey, said,

"It gets people out of their flats. I've learnt how to email my friend in Mozambique, shop on Amazon and Russell our tutor is brilliant."

Don Turner, another housing scheme resident in Romsey said,

"Being that I've never touched a computer before, it's 110% worth doing! It's really enjoyable. There's lot of things you can do on a computer that I didn't know about. Russell the tutor is a lovely man and very patient."

Susan Easton, Project Manager of the Get Digital Project said,

"Lots of schemes and their residents are already benefitting from the first round of grants but there is still a chance for landlords and scheme managers to get involved. There is a second round of applications that closes on 3 September 2010. We are particularly interested in hearing from schemes who have never done anything remotely like this before and that have major reservations about getting involved. Support will be given to them so that they and their residents can benefit from this scheme too."

Application packs for the Get Digital grants are available from the Get Digital website or by calling 0800 077 6031.