Report highlights urgent need for age-appropriate housing solutions

A new report from the government-appointed Older People’s Housing Taskforce has shed light on the critical shortage of suitable housing options for senior citizens.

Chaired by Professor Julienne Meyer CBE, Professor Emerita of Nursing: Care for Older People at City St George’s, University of London, and involving Professor Les Mayhew, Professor of Statistics at Bayes Business School, the Taskforce and accompanying report are calling for urgent action to meet the needs of the aging population, and they have set out a number of core recommendations.

This includes the establishment of an “Office for an Aging Population” to help address the crisis in older people’s housing and assist the government in developing a long-term strategy to address the rapidly changing needs of our society.

The report, “Our Future Homes: Housing that promotes well-being and community for an aging population“, provides an in-depth analysis of the challenges faced by older people in accessing housing that supports their independence, well-being and community engagement.

With the number of people aged 65-79 predicted to increase by nearly 20% by 2040 to 11.6m and those aged 80 by 42% to 5.3m, the findings highlight the pressing need to rethink housing strategies and priorities.

Key findings

• Our older population is growing and becoming more diverse. Over 65’s are 18.6% of our population (up 2% points in ten years), with 8% born outside UK. By 2040, 26% will be over 65 making the UK a “super-aged” society.
• Limited supply of older people’s housing. We need an estimated 30-50,000 new later living homes each year to meet this growth—but only build around 7,000 per year
• Living in under-occupied housing. Nearly 9 in 10 people aged 65-79 live in under-occupied housing, with more than half living in homes with two or more excess bedrooms.
• The current “offer” is unaffordable for most senior citizens. New research by the Taskforce shows current private leasehold older people’s housing options are unaffordable for the majority of English households aged over 75
• Lagging globally. Around 0.6% live in Housing with Care in the UK—a tenth of the proportion in more mature markets such as U.S., Australia and New Zealand.
• Benefits of later living homes. With the vast majority of over 65s currently living in mainstream housing risk missing out on the proven individual health benefits of older people’s housing—with significant implications for NHS budgets due to avoidable hospital admissions and delayed discharges.
• Living in age-inappropriate housing. Only 12% of senior citizens had level access to the entrance of their building; less than half had a bathroom on the entry level of their home.
• Not planning for the future. Older people are unaware of the options available to them and admit to ‘burying their heads’ as to their future housing needs.

The report emphasizes the importance of increasing the volume, quality and choice of age-friendly, dementia-inclusive, faith and culture-sensitive later homes and neighborhoods for later living.

Professor Meyer CBE, Professor Emerita of Nursing: Care for Older People, City St George’s University of London and Chair of the Older People’s Taskforce (2023–2024), said,

“I am delighted the new government has decided to publish this report, as I believe it could help solve the general housing crisis in England today. Having championed older people issues for nearly forty years, my worry is that we will all continue to bury our heads in the sand and marginalize the aging population.

“We need to be brave and give it our urgent attention. This is why we are calling for the establishment of the ‘Office for an Aging Population’ to not only address the crisis in older people’s housing, but also, to encourage government to develop a long-term strategy to address the rapidly changing needs of our society.

“The report is a call to action for all stakeholders to create solutions that address these urgent needs. We all need to ‘think housing,’ ‘address aging,’ ‘promote well-being’ and ‘create inclusive communities.'”

Professor Mayhew added, “The Taskforce has outlined nine key recommendations and one overarching recommendation to change the dial on older people’s housing. However, they are a coherent package and should be implemented as a package. The government should adopt all ten recommendations and show strong leadership from the front and a real commitment to change.

“There are doubts about the government’s ability to deliver the 300,000 new homes a year it has promised but it should prioritize and incentivize older people’s housing. Policymakers at a local and national level also need to ensure that those homes are in age-friendly neighborhoods with good public transport routes, street furniture and access to services such as GPs.”

Core recommendations

1. Standardize definitions of Older People’s Housing/Later Living Homes (OPH/LLH)
2. Incentivize a wide range of OPH/LLH options
3. Ensure more housing is designed for later life
4. Create age-friendly, dementia-inclusive, faith and culture sensitive communities and neighborhoods
5. Expand OPH/LLH at scale and ensure it is affordable to live in, and viable to finance, build and operate
6. Strengthen planning policies
7. Establish a national information platform and local hubs
8. Build consumer confidence
9. Enhance innovation, research and professional development
10. Overarching recommendation—Create collective leadership to drive change