A think-tank report discussed the supply of housing for older people. The report suggested that a shortage of supply was likely and considered the issues around supply and demand.
Source: Claudia Wood, 'A New Generation of Retirement Housing Could Set Off a Property Chain Reaction...': The top of the ladder, Demos
Links: Report | Demos press release | Guardian report
Date: 2013-Oct
A report examined the appeal of resident-controlled housing for older people and how such housing contributed to their well-being. It described a variety of established and planned schemes for ownership or for rent and with differing models of governance and management. The report urged policy-makers and commissioners to promote and support co-operative and mutual housing developments for older people and called for mainstream developers and providers to invest in developments of this type.
Source: Jon Stevens, Growing Older Together: The case for housing that is shaped and controlled by older people, Housing Learning & Improvement Network
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Oct
A think-tank report said that 58 per cent of people aged over 60 were interested in moving house, but feel restricted by a lack of suitable alternative housing or a fear of an unfamiliar environment. Building more retirement properties would free up more than 3 million homes, offering a lifeline to families desperate to move up the housing ladder.
Source: Claudia Wood, The Top of the Ladder, Demos
Links: Report | Summary | Demos press release | BBC report | Telegraph report
Date: 2013-Sep
A paper examined how age affected mortgage borrowing among people aged 50 and over, including the likelihood of an older mortgaged household having difficulties in meeting their monthly payments. As people over the age of 50 got older, they were less likely to have a mortgage and the amount they owed decreased. But 13 per cent of all older mortgaged households were struggling to repay their mortgage. The oldest mortgagors were more vulnerable to financial instability, since they owed more relative to the value of their homes – resulting from both lower value properties and a high use of interest-only mortgages.
Source: The Mortgage Debt of Older Households and the Effect of Age: An analysis using the Wealth and Assets Survey 2008-10, International Longevity Centre – UK
Links: Paper | Bristol University press release
Date: 2013-Sep
A report examined housing with care models in Scotland that aimed at improving the health and well-being of older people.
Source: Newhaven Research, Housing with Care for Older People, Chartered Institute of Housing in Scotland
Links: Report
Date: 2013-Aug
An article examined the way in which different services, providers, and other key players worked together in housing with care (HWC) schemes, and the impact of this on the quality of life of the older people living in them – especially those with high support needs. Most participants were very satisfied with the services in HWC but one-third described problems linked to 'boundary' issues, where gaps, delays or confusion had arisen at the interface between teams, organizations, or professional groups. Gaps often occurred where tasks were relatively small: they affected the quality of life of older people with high support needs, but did not necessarily outweigh the benefits of living in HWC.
Source: Imogen Blood, 'Integrating housing with care for older people', Journal of Integrated Care, Volume 21 Number 4
Links: Abstract
Date: 2013-Jul
A report said that extra care housing could play a vital role in reducing the isolation and loneliness of older people: but that too few people benefited from it. Keeping the momentum of innovation, attracting an appropriate mix of residents, and ensuring diversity in tenure were significant challenges for the sector. There was also a need to ensure that the right levels of funding for such schemes were made available.
Source: Dylan Kneale, What Role for Extra Care Housing in a Socially Isolated Landscape?, Housing Learning and Improvement Network
Links: Report | ILC press release | Inside Housing report
Date: 2013-Jun
A paper examined migration trends in later life. One migration peak was around retirement, often involving those with the means to choose a home and area more in keeping with their changing circumstances and health. The second peak was among the 'older' old, suggesting that many were moving in response to a health crisis that required increased levels of care. People moving in the latter circumstances had less choice over destination, were more likely to end up in housing that provided a higher level of care than they needed or desired, and were more likely to lose contact with social networks that combated loneliness and isolation. Policy-makers needed to recognize the prevention potential of housing, and to invest in specialist, well-designed housing in locations in which older people wanted to live.
Source: Jenny Pennington, Moving On: Migration trends in later life, Hanover Housing Association
Date: 2013-Jun
A think-tank report said that many older people were dissatisfied with existing mainstream and specialist retirement housing. Although sociable housing arrangements – such as cohousing – might be challenging to establish, these innovative forms of housing were valued highly by older people who might otherwise be exposed to the risk of social isolation and loneliness.
Source: Louise Bazalgette and Jo Salter, Sociable Housing in Later Life, Demos
Links: Report | Summary | Inside Housing report
Date: 2013-May
A paper said that asking older people alone to move to smaller houses was ageist. There was a need to build more homes if older people were to do so – otherwise it could make things worse for first-time buyers if they and older people chased similar smaller homes. Older people would move if they were offered housing options that improved their quality of life, and led to a healthier and supported later life. But local authorities had seen retirement housing as largely for those with existing care needs: this had helped to exacerbate the sector's image problem.
Source: Dylan Kneale, Downsizing in Later Life and Appropriate Housing Size across Our Lifetime, International Longevity Centre – UK
Links: Paper | Summary | ILC press release | BBC report | Inside Housing report
Date: 2013-May
A report examined the economic aspects of housing in an ageing society. It said that all new homes should be designed to accommodate an ageing society, according to lifetime standards set nationally. The development of new homes needed to include a wider variety of housing designed for older people, across all tenures – including a range of options for those wanting to downsize to generalist housing, and purpose-built housing for retirement.
Source: Economic Implications of Housing in an Ageing Society, Housing and Ageing Alliance
Links: Report
Date: 2013-May
A think-tank report called on policy-makers to reform the planning system in order to allow more homes to be built in styles and formats that were acceptable to older home-owners. This would mean that the younger generation did not face insurmountable obstacles in paying for an ageing population, as it would put a stop to the cycle of ever-rising housing costs.
Source: Alex Morton, Housing and Intergenerational Fairness, Policy Exchange
Links: Report | Policy Exchange press release | Inside Housing report | Telegraph report
Date: 2013-Apr
A study examined knowledge about the use of equity release products by older home-owners, in order to identify what it might be valuable to research further. Take-up of equity release products in general was very small compared with the potential market. The main uses of the equity released were: for home improvements; as an income supplement; for lifestyle reasons; to support family; and for debt repayment. There were concerns about the effects of equity release on entitlements to means-tested benefits: a significant number of older home-owners had little income, even though they might live in a valuable property, but taking out an equity release product might affect their right to benefits.
Source: Gemma Burgess, Sarah Monk, and Peter Williams, Equity Release amongst Older Homeowners, Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research (University of Cambridge)
Date: 2013-Mar
A study examined the notion of cohousing for older people, drawing on examples from outside the United Kingdom, and assessed the potential for cohousing in the UK itself.
Source: Maria Brenton, Senior Cohousing Communities – An Alternative Approach for the UK?, Joseph Rowntree Foundation
Notes: Cohousing is a form of group living that clusters individual homes around a common house , or shared space and amenities.
Date: 2013-Jan
A paper examined the impact of poor housing on the health and well-being outcomes of older people. It considered the strategic approaches that could be taken to influence the provision of housing and housing-related services to improve outcomes.
Source: Health, Wellbeing, and the Older People Housing Agenda, Housing Learning & Improvement Network
Links: Briefing
Date: 2013-Jan
