An independent taskforce has recommended that the government establishes a cross-departmental unit to lead the delivery of suitable housing for older people.
The Older People’s Housing Taskforce, which was founded under the previous government, has investigated the existing barriers to delivering homes for later living. It is calling on the government to deliver a National Housing Strategy for an Ageing Population, which should be led by a joint united formed between the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC).
The plan would also consider the role that care homes play in catering for older people’s needs.
The statement by the taskforce said: “This jointly sponsored unit between MHCLG and DHSC could take the form of an arms-length body (Office for an Ageing Population) that will galvanise transformational leadership at national and local levels, governed by an independent board, including investors”.
The taskforce also recommended that steps should be taken to strengthen planning policy to deliver a higher number of wider range of later-living housing. This would include introducing a presumption in favour of granting planning permission for later-living housing, readdressing definitions of which use classes different types of later-living homes fall into, and revising planning guidance for councils and local authorities.
The report also suggested that a common standardised methodology to assess local needs for later living is established, while planning authorities would also be required to co-produce a later-living housing strategy.
The taskforce said that the government could mandate Homes England to support the expansion of later-living housing at scale, introduce measures to support developers and operators and review and increase funding for the Older People’s Shared Ownership Scheme as well as incentivising older people for ‘right-sizing’.
The chair of the taskforce, Professor Julienne Meyer, said: “I’d like to issue a call for action for all stakeholders to co-produce, with senior citizens from diverse backgrounds, housing environments that enhance well-being in later life and contribute to local communities.”
“If we are to address the potential challenge of a workforce being unable to meet the needs of an ageing population – housing, wellbeing and community needs to be everyone’s business.”
In response to the taskforce’s report, housing minister Matthew Pennycook said the government recognises the importance of improving the housing options for older people and that it “will give careful consideration to the many recommendations set out in the report.”
John Tonkiss, chief executive of McCarthy Stone, said: “This report is the blueprint for providing the safe, secure, accessible and affordable housing that our rapidly ageing population needs. Millions of older people are unable to move from their existing homes into something better suited to their needs because there are so few options for them to move to. This blocks the housing ladder, creates issues in the NHS and social care system and stymies economic investment.”
“The government has a unique opportunity to address years of undersupply in the retirement community sector if it chooses to implement these recommendations and meet the estimated demand for 30,000-50,000 new retirement properties a year, up from just 7,000 currently. While we welcome the report’s publication, we now need to see urgent action. We look forward to working with ministers to make this happen.”
Spencer McCarthy, CEO and chairman of Churchill Living, said: “This groundbreaking report sets out in detail how the UK can finally take housing for older people out of the shadows and make it an integral part of delivering the new homes our country and its ageing population so badly needs.”
“For too long the few operators that build and manage retirement communities have been doing so against all the odds, battling a planning system that is fundamentally broken and actively obstructs specialist housing for older people, and a litany of cost pressures that have caused all but a handful of housebuilders to exit the sector.”
“By focusing on the scarcity of middle-market, independent retirement housing developments, the taskforce has correctly identified where the need is most acute and the taskforce has set out a series of low-cost, high-impact planning changes which would make delivering this specialist form of housing easier and more affordable.”
“Early action on the recommendations in this report would gift the government a golden opportunity to help people downsize, in so doing help young families move up the ladder into larger, second-hand properties and help older people live more safely, more socially and independently as they get older, thereby helping reduce the pressure on our health and social care services.”
