White Paper should have focused on people at all stages of life

The housing minister himself stated that there is a “need to build more homes of every single type and not focus on one single tenure”. This positive signal, which hinted at more flexible solutions, was a focus of this week’s White Paper; but this could go even further.

Although meeting the housing requirements of the UK population will require a combination of measures, it is still essential that there is a more flexible approach which views housing as a system.

“A flexible housing system should allow people to move through different tenures.”

That isn’t about looking at individual tenures per se, but at a proposition that boosts overall supply to ensure that people of all ages have access to the right housing product and at the right price.

It is about creating mechanisms which will help the housing market to become more efficient.

While this is difficult, we must recognise that people’s lives are dynamic and full of change and we need to work to respond to this with flexible housing products.

At Places for People we recognised this nearly 20 years ago when we developed our first mixed-tenure development, incorporating a mix of housing for sale, affordable housing, and market rent properties.

Since then, we have continued to develop that approach and we now provide all tenures, from affordable social housing right through to homeownership.

We have also developed flexible financial products such as mortgages, shared ownership and shared equity schemes to enable people to access the homes we offer.

Crucially, a flexible housing system should allow people to move through different tenures at a time which suits them best.

And if their circumstances change, there should be options to move back from ownership into another tenure that is better suited to their stage in life.

“There is a huge lack of retirement property in the UK.”

By viewing housing as a flexible system rather than a disjointed set of markets, we could create a framework for major innovation.

One pressing issue that the White Paper hasn’t touched on is how we shape housing solutions for our ageing population. 

There is a huge lack of retirement property in the UK and this is creating blockages in the ways the market operates. Older people are not downsizing or moving into retirement housing. This means that larger family properties are not released into the market for growing families who need them.

There are wider ramifications too. Elderly people who have been treated in hospital often have to stay there because their homes are no longer suitable, putting increasing pressure on the NHS.

Our housing strategy must therefore be balanced with more choice of homes for people in later life as part of the overall creation of a system which works for everyone.

This includes options for people with care needs, retirement villages designed for those seeking an active lifestyle, retirement properties to buy, and retirement rental properties to help people release equity and make empowered choices for their families and future.

We are uniquely placed to innovate to assist the housing system to work more efficiently and to help people to make the market work for them – what a great challenge.

This urgent need is why we set up Places for People Retirement last year and remodelled our supported living business to provide specialist accommodation and support services for people with complex needs.

In a nutshell, it’s essential that developers provide the best places they possibly can in the most commercial way and include the broadest range of housing choices possible. It is encouraging to see the government supporting this approach but we need to find ways to help all people in society access the housing market.

Meeting the needs of everybody is by no means easy and we’re not claiming that we’ve achieved this yet. But we continue to try our best by developing our propositions to meet our country’s changing and complex housing needs.

The government has hinted at a more flexible approach but together we should be pushing this even further to create a housing system that works for all.

David Cowans, chief executive, Places for People