The other end of the housing market

It is interesting to note that whilst the industry caters well for those that are very wealthy and can choose their own care, and for those at the very bottom of the financial spectrum – who together account for some 20% of the market – it is the middle (and larger) 80% who are not particularly well catered for.

And therein lies the first of many challenges for providers and developers. The buying decision, and indeed whether to buy or to rent, is far from straight forward. All too often, the decision is made by well-meaning family members but little input from the person actually making the move. And the decision to make the move is often triggered by a crisis – an event that leaves their current, and often long-term, home unsuitable.

As such, there is a real need for greater amounts of information from all parties that addresses the fears and concerns surrounding later life housing. This will need to come from local authorities, providers, finance housing and developers. This needs to be matched with greater flexibility of tenures and product. A home that can be reconfigured to accommodate changing requirements would, for example, help keep residents in their later life homes for much longer.

The second challenge is finance. The fear of selling the “family silver” or spending the anticipated inheritance of the younger generation, coupled with the loss of control over costs and charges when moving into a leasehold scheme or one where care and support costs are levied at the apparent whim of the provider, can see people remaining in unsuitable properties.

And then there is the cost of the care package itself. The much heralded “cap on care costs” is being slowly eaten away, and with local authorities under ever straightened financial restrains their ability to assist is under pressure from many angles.

The final challenge facing developers is planning (isn’t it always!). In London, for example, there are some 450 separate local plans, and just under 20% of them make reference to older people. The picture is not much better elsewhere. That makes it extremely difficult for developers who want to bring forward these schemes.

The solution is simple: create a dedicated use class for later life housing and create the requirement for local plans to address the same. That would play a major role in bringing forward new and varied schemes.

If we as a community focus on the provision of later life housing on the individual and not the scheme, then we can start making headway on in delivering the homes individuals want and in locations where they are needed.