Why housing older people needs a far more nuanced approach

I spent five years commissioning extra-care and retirement housing and travelled around the country visiting many schemes of all different sizes and costs. Some even had swimming pools, saunas, bowling greens and snooker tables. I tried to take the best of what I learned and apply it to the schemes I commissioned, but I still didn’t find any that I could see myself moving in to when I retire.

“My biggest difficulty with the report is the assertion that developing greater numbers of specialist retirement housing is the only way to go”

Most surveys find that, like me, most people would prefer to stay in their own home or at least within a standard home within their local community.

My own organisation, Foundations, carried out research last year and found that 67% of older people (over-65s) had no or little intention of ever moving while just 16% were considering moving in the next few years. For 33% of older people, thinking about the hassle of moving puts them off, and a third of them (11%) would be more likely to move if support was available to help them.

There is always a minority who would consider some form of retirement housing, but nowhere near enough to justify building on the scale suggested by this report.

This desire to stay put has been recognised by the government through their increased investment in Disabled Facilities Grants, totalling over £2bn in the past five years.

That doesn’t solve all the issues but it does provide a means for local authorities to address some of the most pressing issues in those households that have become ‘unsuitable’.

“I spent five years commissioning extra care and retirement housing... but I still didn’t find any that I could see myself moving in to when I retire”

For people who do consider moving there may be push factors, such as struggling to maintain the garden or getting up and down the stairs, that give cause to consider the alternatives.

There may also be a shiny new retirement living scheme down the road that has a certain pull in terms of companionship and on-call support.

But these pushes and pulls are often outweighed by emotional attachments and the sheer hassle of moving.

Home improvement agencies are very skilled at supporting people to carry out repairs and adaptations to their home.

We were interested to see if they could use the same skills to provide emotional support and practical assistance to someone who would prefer to move – similar to the role of senior mover manager, which is growing in popularity across the Atlantic.

That’s why we’ve been working with agencies in Bristol and Calderdale, which are showing that more people will move with the right help and support in place. In fact, they have supported many moves into extra-care and other retirement housing, too.

For many, they were able to move at the right time for them and not at a point of crisis when they had no other options.

Of course, everyone is different and a single-note policy will never meet the needs of the majority. Housing for an ageing society will require a far more nuanced approach if it’s going to succeed at sufficient scale.

Paul Smith, director, Foundations