Jenny Sims reports on reccomendations from providers and campaigners to improve housing for older people.

No-one disputes that the UK has a housing crisis. The issue was high on voters’ agenda before the general election and, not unsurprisingly, both main political parties pledged to build more homes if voted into government. But even before the election, specialist campaigning bodies and retirement home providers concerned about the housing needs of older people had produced their own manifestos and recommendations to solve the crisis.

Many were among the 80 stakeholders consulted by the Older People’s Housing Taskforce (OPHT) – set up in May 2023 to look at how to improve housing options for older people in the UK to give them greater choice, quality and security.

The independent taskforce was given 12 months to report back with recommendations – at the time of writing nothing new on the OPHT’s progress had been published on the government’s website since its interim report.

In response to an enquiry from The Pensioner, a government spokesperson confirmed the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and the Department of Health and Social Care had received the taskforce’s final report before the end of May – it had not, however, been made public. The spokesperson added: “It will be a matter for a future government to consider the recommendations.”

OPHT leader Professor Julienne Meyer said at the outset that they would be putting people first and consumer protection first, and that they were keen to ensure their findings were grounded in the experience of people who lived and worked in the sector. Hence, they would be engaging and consulting with a wide range of organisations.

Taskforce recommendations

Its early recommendations were that:

1. The government implements measures to protect consumers from hidden fees as soon as possible, based on recommendations developed by the Law Commission in 2017 and accepted by government in 2019

2. The government ensures that older people’s housing is given due consideration and prominence in the forthcoming revisions of the National Planning Policy Framework.

Taskforce members visited several retirement schemes, including: McCarthy Stone’s Runnymede Court, Worthing; Audley’s Mayfield Retirement Village in Watford; and Extra Care Charitable Trust’s Shenley Wood site in Milton Keynes.

Those consulted included: the National Housing Federation, which represents more than 60 organisations; Age UK; and the Associated Retirement Community Operators (ARCO).

ARCO’s members provide a range of housing options for older people – retirement housing (sheltered housing, retirement housing, retirement flats or communities); integrated retirement communities (IRCs, also known as extra care, retirement villages, housing-withcare, assisted living and independent living); and care homes (nursing homes, residential homes and old people’s homes).

The taskforce excluded care homes from its enquiry.

In February, ARCO published a housing-with-care manifesto for Greater London. Entitled An IRC in Every Borough, it called for all Greater London Assembly (GLA) members and GLA staff, London borough councillors and officials who have relevant portfolios to visit an integrated retirement community in or around London by the end of 2024.

London’s population is ageing. Between 2011 and 2021 some boroughs saw a 20% increase in the number of over-75s.

The ARCO manifesto says: “Specialist housing-with-care can transform people’s lives for the better. It can improve health and wellbeing, delay the onset of care needs and allow people to stay in their own homes for longer.”

However, the provision of such care in the capital is extremely low (see box). Before the election, many organisations called for a major housebuilding programme. The National Pensioners Convention wants 85,000 sustainable homes for older people.

Trapped in their homes

The Centre for Ageing Better (CAB) said: “A lack of suitable housing options for older people, in the communities they want to live in, is leaving many trapped in homes that aren’t suitable for them.”

The comment followed the publication of analysis by the Care Policy and Evaluation Centre at the London School of Economics and Political Science, whose report, Counting the Cost, said fixing dangerous homes in England would deliver at least £1.5 billion in health and social care savings. Previous research from the CAB has identified £19 billion of annual health benefits from investing more in home improvements.

Meanwhile, Age UK has shone a light on the need to improve older people’s homes. Its manifesto points out that 1.1 million older people live in homes that do not meet the Decent Homes Standard.

The body has called on the government to “expand the social housing sector and promote an increase in and diversification of mainstream and supported housing for older people, especially for those on low and modest incomes”.

And Independent Age says: “Across the UK, more and more people are renting in later life. We want to make sure that all older people can have a place they love as their home.”

In England alone there are more than 400,000 privately rented households where someone aged over 65 lives. But the charity hears from many who have problems renting for a variety of reasons – spiralling rents, poor-quality housing and the constant anxiety of living in an insecure tenancy.

According to Independent Age’s report Hidden Renters (www.independentage. org/hidden-renters-report):

• 25% of older renters experience longterm poverty (seven to nine years)

• 37% of older private renters experience relative poverty after housing costs

• 70% of private renters aged 65+ in England say they would find it difficult to find an alternative property if they had to move.

The report also says: “Informed by the views of older people living on low incomes who are privately renting, we believe it is possible to reimagine older people’s rental experiences and make a meaningful difference quickly. We believe that any national effort to improve housing must include the voices of older people at its core.”

Its wide-ranging recommendations include that “the UK government initiates a public debate on whether to make decent housing a human right”. Top of its list are recommendations from the Renters Reform Bill, which failed to be passed because parliamentary time ran out before the general election.

Housing Community Summit

In September, a collaboration between the National Housing Federation and the Chartered Institute of Housing will result in a joint Housing Community Summit being held in Liverpool. Social housing will be its main focus. But across the housing sectors there is agreement that a long-term plan for housing and for older people is needed (https://housingcommunitysummit. co.uk/).

Labour has pledged to build 1.5 million homes in five years, as well as new towns across the country. And if the OPHT endorses the recommendations of its stakeholders, the framework for a new long-term plan will be readily available.