Anchor’s response to the Older People’s Housing Taskforce

Anchor Chief Executive Sarah Jones said in response to the Older People's Housing Taskforce:

The taskforce makes some enormously valuable recommendations for increasing the supply of housing for older people. With our research showing more than a third of older people would consider downsizing if the right properties are available, increasing supply can bring enormous benefits for older people themselves and free up larger properties for families.

Good quality age-appropriate housing and support brings huge benefits for residents - enabling people to live independently for longer and helping tackle loneliness – reducing pressure on public services. At Anchor, we’re keen to work with government and partners to increase supply particularly in the social rented sector, where demand hugely exceeds supply. 

As well as enabling older people to live independently for longer, each new home for older people frees up housing and bedrooms for younger families and first-time buyers, making housing more accessible and affordable for all. 

At Anchor, we are committed to meeting demand and increasing housing options for people in later life through our strong development programme, delivering an average of at least five hundred homes a year over a rolling ten-year period, with at least seventy percent of those homes being for social rent.

With one in four of us expected to be over the age of 65 by 2038, it’s crucial government supports the development of more socially rented housing dedicated to older people and 10% of Homes England & GLA’s capital funding budgets goes to the construction of social rented housing for older people.

Government should now move quickly to ensure planning reforms support development of older people’s housing through a new planning classification, an overarching strategy and more funding for housing with care and 10% allocation in local plans for housing for older people.

Planning for housing for older people should also have a presumption in favour of additional density. More homes are often needed to make schemes viable as lettable space is reduced by essential communal spaces and facilities.