Business urge authorities to urgently tackle points surrounding housing for older folks

Throughout a roundtable, hosted by The Rt Hon Damian Inexperienced MP, Chair of the All-Occasion Parliamentary Group for Grownup Social Care, included representatives from the Retirement Housing Group, the Related Retirement Neighborhood Operators and the Dwelling Builders Federation, and mentioned points regarding the supply of housing for older folks.

Attendees agreed that there have been years of undersupply regardless of the ageing inhabitants and referred to as for presidency help to handle this imbalance.

Discussing the advantages of retirement housing, Mr Inexperienced spoke about how growing its provide would unlock housing for youthful folks when older folks downsize. Others famous that retirement housing helps scale back the impression of the ageing inhabitants on the NHS and social care system.

Attendees additionally mentioned how boundaries to constructing extra housing for older folks could be overcome. They agreed that planning is the important thing barrier, and referred to as for reforms to particularly encourage the provision of retirement housing. This included stronger native and nationwide steerage, placing retirement housing on the identical foundation as properties for first-time patrons to incentivise provide, setting clear targets for supply and supporting larger client understanding of this necessary sector.

Concluding the roundtable, attendees agreed that retirement housing should turn out to be a better precedence for the federal government, and referred to as for it to urgently launch the proposed Older Individuals’s Housing Taskforce, as promised within the Levelling Up White Paper in February 2022.

Damian Inexperienced MP mentioned, “Our inhabitants is ageing quickly and retirement housing provide just isn’t being offered on the price wanted. Simply c.7,000 new retirement housing properties are delivered yearly, versus the estimated demand for 50,000.

“The Authorities has promised to create a job power to handle this, which has the chance to vary the established order and be daring and bold in its mission to make specialist properties for older folks a precedence.

“Tackling these necessary points has cross-party help and would have a transformational impact on the wellbeing of older folks.”

Mr Inexperienced has subsequently written to Housing Minister Lucy Frazer MP and Social Care Minister Helen Whately MP to name for its launch.