The Department of Health and Social Care, specifically the Older People’s Housing Taskforce, has asked organisations for their views on the market in England for older people’s housing today and their recommendations for shaping it in the future.
The taskforce will be looking at options for the provision of greater choice, quality, and security of housing for older people. These are all things that are important to us at Abri too, so we were pleased to share our thoughts. We’re committed to empowering everyone, regardless of their age, to live their lives the way that they want to. And we’re passionate about providing suitable high quality and safe homes for all, with access to the support services that some of our customers might need.
The consultation focussed on the three separate workstreams that make up the Taskforce: people, products and places. Here’s what we had to say:
People
This workstream is focused on understanding what people want, what they prefer, and what concerns they might have about their housing, now or in the future. This includes older people (particularly those of lower or middle income), those approaching older age, and their families and carers.
Abri said:
We believe that the taskforce’s focus should be on enabling older people to have choice and control over how their housing support is delivered. Like people of all ages, those in later life are a diverse range of people with unique wants and needs. This should be reflected in the range of support and housing options available.
The taskforce should aim to empower people to live their lives the way that they want to, with access to the services they need; whether that’s supplied by their housing provider or through external support. Regardless of age, everyone should be supported to sustain their routines where possible, and live with dignity, respect and privacy.
We believe that supporting older people’s housing needs and enabling social inclusion go hand in hand. Living in the right home – in the right place and with the right adaptations – can enable someone to feel part of their community and have a positive effect on mental wellbeing. This might be enabling someone to stay in their current home, allowing family members and carers to continue visiting and providing support, or adapting a home so that an individual can independently access their communities and beyond. For example, a wheelchair ramp can make a huge difference to someone’s level of independence: even if they’re not fully reliant on it inside the house, it could allow them to make their own way into their community, meet friends, and use public transport if they are looking to go further afield.
Products
This workstream is examining what ‘good’ looks like in dedicated older people’s housing and how we can make this more widely available - particularly for people of lower or middle income.
Abri said:
Many older people regard moving home as a last option and feel strongly that they want to remain within their local communities, staying connected to friends and families. Therefore, it’s important that the taskforce also focus on the challenge of regenerating and adapting older housing stock where older people may already be living.
Where structural or permanent changes may not be available, or the individual has needs that will change over time, occupational therapists can suggest equipment based solutions rather than permanent alterations. However, it should be noted that some older housing stock simply isn’t suitable for adaptions. For example, to widen an entry way in a pre-fab home would require knocking down the whole wall and rebuilding to accommodate a wider entry.
Where a move is necessary, bungalows or ground floor accommodation are often most suited to those with accessibility needs. However, at present, there is no incentive for housebuilders to build bungalows, so often larger homes or flats are built instead. The taskforce should investigate whether local authorities should be required to include minimum thresholds of accessible accommodation in their local plans.
More broadly, when any type of new home is built, it should be included in planning requirements that they are designed and built to be accessible, flexible and adaptable through space and lifetime home standards with a minimal need for resident relocation.
Places
This workstream is examining how to bring together the levers and partners in local systems to make change happen at the local level.
Abri said:
Generally, many more affordable homes suitable for older people need to be built – whether that’s easily accessible homes, specialist schemes, or schemes providing round the clock care.
Currently, planning policy does not support the provision of specialist schemes, particularly those aimed at the lower end of the market. Developers for affordable schemes, targeting those with lower incomes, will find it difficult to compete with high-end developers due to funding constraints and financial viability of the schemes. Therefore, more support is needed from local authorities to enable delivery: in terms of land allocation in appropriate places (this could be council owned land – i.e. car parks in the centre of town), suitable nomination clauses, financial support for void periods, and the provision of extra care.
The local availability of funding can be an issue even for those wanting to stay in their own homes. Many home adaptations that older people require are funded by the Disabled Facilities Grant which is administered through local councils. As each council have their own approach to administering them, some will have larger pots to draw down from than others. Therefore, in some circumstances where grant funding isn’t available, older people can be left without the necessary adaptations they need to support them living with dignity and privacy. The taskforce should seek to address this local imbalance: quality care and access to adaptations should be consistent, regardless of where a customer lives.