Anchor Trust

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OLDER PEOPLE MUST BE A PRIORITY IN THE ‘HOMES FOR THE FUTURE’ AGENDA

Anchor Trust is warning that older people will become marginalised if the Government’s housing strategy is not joined-up more thoroughly.

The warning comes after Anchor responded to the Government’s green paper Homes for the Future – which contains only one full page specifically about the housing needs of older people.

The green paper outlines the methods by which three million new homes will be delivered by 2020.

But very little of the document discusses the housing needs of older people in particular, or sets out how specialist housing and services for the over 55s will be provided for at a strategic level.

Anchor is concerned that Homes for the Future and the forthcoming National Strategy for Housing in an Ageing Society will work as two independent documents, when much more joined-up thinking is needed across them to identify how housing will be improved for older people.

Anchor Chief Executive John Belcher said:

“These two documents seem to run in parallel, rather than complementing each other, and there is an inherent danger that this might lead to the marginalisation of older people’s housing within the larger, national debate.”

While acknowledging the dramatic rise in the number of older people in the future, the green paper fails to address their rising expectations and aspirations, or the fact that future generations of older customers will demand better quality housing, support and care.

Longer life expectancy and higher care needs mean that there must be a greater emphasis on good design and sustainability, as well as social elements such as a sense of community and opportunities for older people to continue leading active lives.

The formal consultation process ended Monday 15 October and the main points raised by Anchor include:

The need to acknowledge the changing aspirations of older people in the future, and translate this into policy;
The growing importance of equity release and shared ownership options for accessing housing and support in the future, and the need for the financial sector to introduce more competitive products for older people;
Developers to take the housing needs, preferences and opinions of older people about important factors such as design into consideration;
Planners to better incorporate and reflect older people’s housing needs into Regional Housing Strategies;
Sheltered housing remains a low cost, high impact option for older people but only if it is of a high quality and well designed;
Our support for the extension of the Lifetime Homes Standards as a mandatory part of the Code for Sustainable Homes.

Anchor hopes that a joined-up approach will be adopted by the Government, as and when the National Strategy and Homes for the Future reach their final form, and are implemented at policy level.