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Loss of £300m funding for housing and social care branded ‘extremely short-sighted’
The government’s decision to hold back £300m promised to bring together social care and supported housing has been labelled “short-sighted” by a national charity.
The Centre for Ageing Better also described it as “harmful” to step away from £300m funding that the government had identified in the Social Care White Paper 18 months ago as necessary to integrate housing into health and care strategies.
The charity said this funding is “desperately needed” to help alleviate the “unprecedented pressures” currently being placed on the social care sector.
Carole Easton, chief executive of the Centre for Ageing Better, said: “The commitments made in the white paper were a real step forward, so to now remove more resources from this sector, which is operating under almost unprecedented strain, is extremely short-sighted and harmful.
“Poor-quality housing costs the NHS £1.4bn every year, with half of this cost attributed to excessively cold living conditions... This was desperately needed funding.”
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Ms Easton added: “The successes and challenges of the health and social care sector are inextricably linked to quality and safety of our homes and the current levels of support are inadequate.”
The annual cost to the NHS from poor housing and its impact on residents’ health is almost five times greater than the one-off funding that has now been pulled by the government, the Centre for Ageing Better said.
On Tuesday, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) updated its care plans, which also included a decision to hold back £250m promised to help plug staff shortages.
Kate Henderson, chief executive of the National Housing Federation, was also “deeply disappointed” by the government’s decision to scale back funding.
“Supported housing is critical to reducing homelessness and relieving pressures on the social care, health and criminal justice sectors,” she said.
“Over the next decade, 125,000 more people are going to need supported housing,” Ms Henderson added.
The funding “would have been a positive starting point in ensuring that each and every one of these people would have the support, access and care they need at home”.
The DHSC has been approached for comment.
The cut to the funding was announced at the same time as it was revealed that a leading expert in care for older people is now the chair of the government’s retirement housing taskforce.
Professor Julienne Meyer will lead work across the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and the DHSC to grow the senior living sector and increase housing options for older people.
The taskforce will run for up to 12 months and will produce an independent report with recommendations for DLUHC and DHSC ministers, with interim findings available after six months.
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