Housing White Paper: Ageing should have been front and centre

So, whilst we welcome the reference to housing and ageing in the housing White Paper (page 63 to be exact), this was a missed opportunity to put the housing needs of our ageing population, front and centre.

The White Paper focuses on ‘downsizing’ and discusses incentives for older people to move. This makes lots of assumptions. There needs to be a better understanding of what people in later life want and the housing options available. For example: What types of houses are older adults living in? What types of housing do older people move to? Who moves into their houses when vacated? What barriers prevent people moving? What incentives and support is needed?  Without this insight, policy solutions are unlikely to be effective.

The White Paper addresses the need to change the private rental market but doesn’t consider specific needs of people in later life. The number of older private renters is increasing – 200,000 older adults joined the rental market in the last four years and an estimated third of over 60-year-olds could be living in private rental property by 2040. But they could face: non-regulated rents; loose landlord regulations; short-term tenancies; and poor housing standards with houses in disrepair and not adapted for their needs. In the UK, renting is still seen as the second-best option.  However, well-designed tenancies and long-term renting could be beneficial for those who have to rent and those who choose to.

Ageing Better welcomes the opportunity for increasing construction of housing across the UK, however these homes need to be adaptable, affordable and accessible.  As the proportion of individuals over the age of 65 and 85 increase, so too will the proportion of the population with disability, accessibility, and mobility requirements. Yet there is a significant shortage of accessible homes in the UK – only 7% of homes meet basic accessibility features. We need a long-term housing strategy that ensures the homes we build today can respond in time to people’s changing access needs.

Downsizing and new homes are important when it comes to ensuring we have housing fit for our ageing population. However, we must remember that most older people (93%) live in existing mainstream housing and are likely to remain there.  It is essential that we look for the best solutions to adapt current housing stock. Indeed, at Ageing Better we are doing just that.

Government can, and should, play a leading role and give the same attention to adapting current stock as it is to building new housing, if it is to ensure housing is fit for the future.

Read our response to the Housing White Paper.