Report says more should be done to help deliver homes for older people

The report (44-page / 4.6 MB PDF) from the all-party parliamentary group on housing and care for older people said councils should ensure that their local plans give "the necessary priority to older people's housing needs" and that retirement housing is "a core component of any new settlements".

The group opened an inquiry in September 2015 to explore options for the delivery, management and service of retirement properties. The inquiry found that, whilst eight million people over the age of 60 were interested in downsizing from their current homes, many were discouraged from moving by factors including the poor quality and variety of retirement housing, the costs of moving, the location of available homes and concerns about loss of autonomy and control.

The report said that the planning system "throws up several disincentives" to the development of retirement housing. It said including retirement housing in the same use class as general use housing means "housing developers face the same section 106 charges to fund affordable housing as developers of general housing". It said retirement housing also attracts the same community infrastructure levy rates as general housing development "despite the fact that retirement housing tends to have common amenities or communal spaces on site that cannot be sold".

The group said councils should ensure that their local development plans include enough homes for older people and that developers use design principles relevant to older persons' homes. It recommended that retirement housing should be exempted from the requirement to build 'starter homes' for sale at a discount to first time buyers under the age of 40, or to pay a commuted sum in lieu of delivering starter homes.

The report said the government should shift its focus away from providing support for first-time buyers. It recommended that 'help to buy' assistance should be extended to older people and exemption from stamp duty should be considered to encourage those over pension age to move house and trigger chains of home moves further down the housing ladder.

The recommendations in the report also included: better information and advice to help older people understand the options available to them; increased capital investment in housing with care and support; and increased work by housebuilders, investors, lenders and housing associations to recognise and cater for "the huge-market for tailor-made homes for the older population".

Planning expert Ben Mansell of Pinsent Masons, the law firm behind Out-Law.com, said: "This is a welcome report given the UK’s ageing population and lack of suitable retirement housing. To date, there has not been enough of an emphasis in the general housing debate on the importance of providing suitable housing for older people. As the report recommends, the planning system should be tweaked to incentivise, rather than discourage, developers from providing retirement housing. This would means changes to starter homes, section 106 and community infrastructure levy requirements to accommodate retirement housing. It will be interesting to see if the report’s suggestions are made into policy by government."