"Prioritise housing for older people," Brown urged

11/07/2007

In response to Gordon Brown putting housing at the centre of his parliamentary programme, Help the Aged is urging the Government to prioritise the needs of older people. Says Joe Oldman, their Senior Policy Adviser: “While there is comfort that the Prime Minister is focusing on housing as a key policy direction, he has clearly failed to make any sign of a commitment to lifetime homes and mixed tenure for older people.
 
"Making houses affordable is one thing, but there must be an onus on making them available for a lifetime. The concept of  designing 'lifetime neighbourhoods' should therefore be given much higher priority, as opposed to focusing simply on specialist segregated developments, such as retirement villages.
 
"Given we will experience a rapid expansion in older households over the next twenty years, older people can no longer be considered a marginal group within housing policy.
 
"With this in mind, we really need to see a ‘Decent Homes Plus’ initiative that is designed to make housing more adaptable to the needs of older people. This would help them stay independent in their own homes – a goal of particular importance for owner-occupiers living in poor housing.  Any such initiative should be rolled out nationwide and not just targeted in regeneration areas."