You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Housing and Ageing Alliance calls for Homes England to set aside 10% of grant programme for older people’s housing
Homes England should set aside 10% of its grant programme for older people’s housing, the Housing and Ageing Alliance has said.
This call comes as part of a set of proposals published by HAA, which draws together representatives from Age UK, Independent Age, the National Housing Federation, Housing LIN and other organisations.
The 15-point manifesto also calls for local authorities to develop housing strategies that would “map existing housing for older people across all types and tenures, its availability and condition” and identify where there are significant gaps.
It added that local and national planning guidance should prioritise increasing the supply of housing for older citizens, including to assess and plan for specialist older people’s housing across all types and tenures in local plans.
The plan asked the government to implement “without delay” its commitment to increase accessibility standards for new homes, alongside increased support from Homes England.
READ MORE
The calls come as many older people face acute housing challenges, with hundreds of thousands stuck in the private rented sector (PRS) after retirement, leaving them at the mercy of rising rents.
The number of households headed by someone 65 years or older in the PRS has almost doubled over the past 20 years, from 220,000 in 2003-04 to 382,000 in 2020-21. Almost 900,000 more PRS households are headed by someone over the age of 55.
The new proposals published by HAA said older people need access to independent information, advice and advocacy around what housing and care options may be open to them.
The manifesto added that all older people should be able to access “practical and affordable” services to repair and adapt existing homes according to their needs.
Mario Ambrosi, chair of HAA and director of communications and marketing at Anchor, a specialist housing and care provider, said: “Our ageing population brings colossal change and is a surprise to precisely no one. Yet, public policies and systems are increasingly inadequate for the challenges and opportunities it brings.
“Everyone deserves an affordable, accessible home.”
He added: “Actions such as implementing the government commitment to increase accessibility standards of new homes can happen immediately [and] at the same time, government should develop a national older people’s housing strategy to drive a shift in supply to address needs of the older people of tomorrow.”
John Tonkiss, chief executive of McCarthy Stone, said: “Radical action is needed to address the housing and care needs of older people. Sadly, this is the forgotten part of the policy debate. We fully support the alliance’s call for 10% of Homes England’s output to be for housing in later life – the UK builds just 7,000 new properties a year for older people, but demand is for 30,000.”
In response, a Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokesperson said: “Offering older people a better choice of accommodation to suit their changing needs, in places they want to live, is key to helping them remain living independently for longer and feel more connected to their communities.
“The government has commissioned an independent Older People’s Housing Taskforce to look into and advise on how to improve housing choice for older people and the taskforce continues to work with key stakeholders to inform its work.”
In 2023, the government established the taskforce to examine options for providing “greater choice, quality and security” around homes for older people.
This followed on from the 2022 Mayhew Review, which concluded that up to 50,000 new homes per year needed to be targeted at older people, to tackle crises in both housing and care.
Inside Housing understand ministers are waiting for the advice of the taskforce before commenting in more detail.
Sign up for our care and support newsletter
Already have an account? Click here to manage your newsletters
