As a response to the rising numbers of older people and increasing pressures on adult social care, the Government intends to look at whether more housing designed specifically for older people could help address England’s wider housing needs.
Just 2% of the country’s housing stock has been designed with pensioners in mind and with the number of over 85’s in Britain set to double by the year 2030, boosting the delivery of specialist retirement housing would free up homes currently under-occupied by older people.
Official data show that 8.1 million properties, or 35 per cent of all homes in the country, are “under-occupied”, which is defined as having at least two spare bedrooms.
Summary of our response
We believe underoccupancy is a key element of the challenge, with under-occupied homes accounting for a staggering 69% of housing in England and Wales.
One of the main barriers for older people and pensioners looking to relocate is the lack of suitable choices. The inquiry plans to look at the adequacy of provision of homes for older people and the challenges people face in accessing housing which meets their needs.
Furthermore, as outlined in the Housing 2025 Report, Legal & General commissioned a report which found that when last time buyers were looking for a new home, the most common preferences were being close to their family (32 per cent), being near to their current neighbourhood (18 per cent), having easy access to health care (16 per cent) and being close to shops (10 per cent).
With just 106,000 purpose-built owned retirement homes in Britain, the current planning policy and Government initiatives in England in meeting the housing needs of older people is not adequate.
One solution would be to provide an incentive for older people to sell up. We support the idea of making the prospect of downsizing more attractive to last time buyers and encourages the development of more suitable properties.
