A fresh commitment to housing for older people Terrie Alafat CBE Director of Housing 18 February 2014

Older people’s housing - context 60% of projected increase in households from 2008 to 2033 will be headed by someone 65+ Where do older people currently live: 7.3 million older (no one under 55) households in England live in mainstream or specialist housing 18% of older households are housing association or council tenants 6% of older households are private sector tenants 76% of older households owner-occupiers

Specialist housing - context Currently around 5% of older households live in specialist housing Estimated around 500,000 units with approximately: 100,000 private sector 400,000 in public sector This breaks down roughly into: 75% social rented 25% private leaseholds negligible number of private rents to date

Current supply and demand Demographic change is shaping demand for housing choices Estimated gap of up to 45,000 units a year for people with support needs Some demand met through adaptation, floating support and existing affordable homes programme Around 6 million older people would consider moving to more suitable housing Council of Mortgage Lenders estimates around £1 trillion of un-mortgaged equity held by older households Provides opportunity for older households to support move to more suitable housing or fund adaptations to enable them to remain at home

Choice Limited choice for older households moving to accommodate support needs Around 70% of private supply is from one provider Moving to specialist retirement housing can improve quality of life – both physical health and social well-being Broadly three types of movers: lifestyle movers - typically younger, seeking a better quality of life planners - typically middle age range move before they need to crisis movers - frequently older and often move because of accident or ill-health In 2009-10 only 1.7% of households over 65 had moved within the last year

Government approach Government has adopted a three strand approach : providing support to people who wish to stay in their home ensuring the right advice is available strengthening choice for those who want to consider moving Additionally, more cross-government working to bring together interests in housing, care, health and welfare

Better integration Care Bill Care and Support Specialised Housing Fund positions housing more centrally to provision of care duty on authorities to integrate services - eg housing with health Care and Support Specialised Housing Fund £315 million from Department of Health for development of specialist housing HCA and GLA delivering more than 3000 affordable homes in phase 1 Better Care Fund £3.8 billion investment for more integration of health and social care will deliver better outcomes for less money and drive forward integration

Still more to do Approach to housing for older people needs some fresh thinking Challenges remain, but not just for Government – sector must engage Kick-started by Ministers with 2 roundtable meetings Brought together DCLG, DH, and DWP and members of the House of Lords Sector representatives – many of who are here today Good basis to begin exploring issues and barriers with experts

Good practice Learning from and building on good practice we know exists Housing Minister already interested in number of projects including: Sunderland City Council facilitating development of non-grant funded extra care housing Extra Care Charitable Trust mixed tenure retirement villages and developments face to face advice and support provided through FirstStop local partners home improvement agencies & other organisations providing adaptations, falls prevention, hospital discharge service, handypersons scheme

What next? DCLG is tendering for a project on older people’s housing consisting of:   research to provide a package of evidence policy development exercise Great opportunity for the sector to contribute Use your knowledge and experience to help shape and inform the project as it develops Find out more emailing my team via tracey.heyworth@communities.gsi.gov.uk

In conclusion Aware that there’s still more to do at a challenging time Need to ensure variety of housing and support options for older people Must work to remove barriers and find new solutions Working together we can make a real difference Help older people to live independently, where they choose with quality of life and dignity