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Comment on Older People's Housing Taskforce report

27 November 2024

Commenting on examining how to meet rising demand for age-friendly housing accommodation in Britain, Victoria Thourgood, Head of Corporate Real Estate who heads up the later living practice at UK and Ireland law firm 澳门六合彩资料, said:

鈥淭ackling the acute shortage in appropriate housing for older people is an urgent priority, which will not only ensure we have sufficient affordable age-friendly accommodation but should have the knock-on positive effect of freeing up other housing stock, helping people to get on to and climb the property ladder.

鈥淭his report therefore offers a tantalising opportunity to begin building the foundations of a housing strategy that addresses the needs of all our population. 

鈥淚n particular, the taskforce鈥檚 recommendation to set a target of 10% of affordable housing being earmarked for later living is a crucial intervention, given that currently 3% of new homes are developed as senior housing at a time when we鈥檙e hurtling towards a quarter of the UK population will be aged 65-plus by 2040. 

鈥淭weaks to the planning system can also help to ramp up development at the necessary scale, while helping to keep town and city centres vibrant with footfall as retail use wanes. 

鈥淎 sharpened focus on bringing senior housing to market at lower price points by exploring more flexible designs and construction methods, expanding shared ownership schemes into later living, and offering financial incentives such as a capped stamp duty for 鈥榬ightsizing鈥 reflects the innovative thinking that will be required to move this forward.  

鈥淣ine in 10 of retirement housing residents are previous homeowners, yet age-friendly accommodation must also be accessible to those who don鈥檛 have property capital.

鈥淎dequate funding for support and care provision also needs addressing. While these recommendations may help to address the structural issues that prevent large-scale integrated retirement communities from being developed, we also need to balance this with challenges at the other end of the scale to develop a skilled workforce of carers.

鈥淢ore thinking is also needed on the cultural barriers to the concept of downsizing and 鈥榬ightsizing鈥 in the UK, which lags behind countries like the US and Canada in normalising this practice. A wider conversation must take place within the social care sector, in collaboration with others, about how we improve the attractiveness of the integrated retirement community offer so that it becomes a no-brainer for people entering their later years.鈥

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Victoria Thourgood

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victoria.thourgood@brownejacobson.com

+44 (0)330 045 2208

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