History

Care & Repair services developed in response to the growing awareness of the housing problems faced by older homeowners. All housing needs constant attention but it was found that many older people were living in older housing that needed more attention than most. Problems might begin as quite minor but if left unattended these could lead to bigger problems and even to the need for major renovations. Unfortunately, for the growing number of older people living on low incomes, these repairs were out of their reach.

This meant that thousands of older people were living in houses, which were damp, unhealthy, and dangerous. Many were lacking in basic amenities such as hot water or an indoor toilet. It was often because of these poor housing conditions that older people ended up in hospital, either through ill health or accidents.

In 1991 the Welsh Office established Care & Repair Cymru with the remit of developing the work of the Care & Repair movement in Wales.

• By 1993 there were 10 such Agencies
• In late 1995 there were 20
• There are now 22 Agencies, one in each county, with all Wales coverage achieved.