We need ‘later homes’ for older people, not just starter homes for the young
This article, by Lord Best (a crossbench peer, chair of the APPG on housing and care for older people and former president of the Local Government Association), calls for government to turn its attention to promoting new housebuilding for older people. He says: As well as starter homes, the UK needs “later homes”. Not least because those who “right-size” – move into the right-sized property for their household’s needs – free up family homes for the next generation. Building homes that are tailor-made for older people – easy to manage, with space and light, fully accessible and in the right location – meets the requirements of two households, one older, one younger.
The APPG’s recent report, ‘housing our ageing population: positive ideas’, points out that the government gets multiple benefits from enabling older people to enjoy better health and wellbeing in new homes. These include significant savings in NHS and social care spending. And those who have moved into age-exclusive, attractive new homes talk not just of the savings in outgoings – and often the release of cash to spend on other things – but the social life that banishes loneliness too. So why is the UK so different from the US and most other European countries in terms of its housing output for those of us in our extended middle age? Why are we averse to moving until a health crisis forces us out when an earlier move could ensure our independence, in a place of our choosing, for the rest of our days?
The report sets out a number of ideas about how all the stakeholders involved could get us to that tipping point when moving home later in life becomes the norm. We advocate an extension of the help-to-buy scheme, currently only available to the young, to help those buying new property in older age. We also call for the Department for Work and Pensions to ensure its policies for capping housing benefit do not deter investment in extra care and specialist housing for older people. And we want local authorities to ensure their local plans recognise the changing demographic of their areas and prioritise housebuilding for this age group.