The taskforce, launched in 2023 by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government and the Department of Health and Social Care, recognises how our homes are essential to our wellbeing, now and as we age. The final report represents a significant joint effort but is by no means its conclusion – it is a call to action and the start of a longer journey to ensure high-quality housing options for us all as we age
Time for change
The taskforce’s report sets out evidence for an ongoing concern within health, housing and social care; that the current housing options and availability for older people are not keeping up with demand, in terms of an ageing population and the diversity of our older population. It outlines that we need an estimated 30-50,000 new later-living homes per year but currently provide nearer 7,000. Too many current leasehold options are unaffordable for most English households aged over 75.
More than nine in 10 over 65s live in mainstream housing but only 12% have housing that meets some of the basic accessibility criteria, such as a level access to their building. There is not a ‘one size fits all’ solution, but rather an opportunity to provide attractive options for people across mainstream and specialised housing and income and housing equity levels. By maintaining the status quo, we are failing to realise the benefits of housing for health services, social care, the wider housing market, local communities and, of course, individuals and their families. Continuing with the current systems and speed of change is not viable.
Working in partnership
The taskforce, Chaired by Professor Julienne Meyer CBE and with 19 members, including SCIE’s Chief Executive Officer, Kathryn Smith OBE, sets out an ambitious response to these challenges. It provides a vision and a challenge for all of us to ‘think housing’, ‘address ageing’, ‘promote wellbeing’ and ‘create inclusive communities’.
Government is certainly ‘thinking housing’ with its ambition to build 1.5 million homes in the next five years. Yet, there is limited focus on how housing is interlinked with health and wellbeing, and an essential, underpinning component to both our health and social care systems. There is an opportunity to ‘think ageing’ and fully align the national housing strategy with the prevention strategy – enhancing both to ‘promote wellbeing’. It is essential that health, housing and social care work in partnership, and this is far more likely to succeed at a local level if it is woven into policy at the highest level.
The local picture
As well as contributing to research, evidence and policy at a national level, we have been delving into how this plays out locally. In 2020, SCIE led a commission which looked at the role of housing in the future of care and support. Our aim was to ensure that older people had a range of suitable housing options at the right time. Professor Julienne Meyer CBE was one of the co-chairs of the commission which was funded by the Dunhill Medical Trust.
Publishing our report, A place we can call home: A vision and a roadmap for providing more options for housing with care and support for older people, alongside evidence and resources in 2021, the commission set out a vision and roadmap for change. This included an immediate priority for local areas to develop place-based plans for housing for older adults. We found that most local areas did not have a plan, or it was very limited. As a result, they were reactive, not proactive in setting out what they needed and where the gaps were.
In turn, developers and potential investors had no steer from local authorities as to what was needed in each area and to what standards this was expected to be delivered. In addition to needing a plan, we set out how this plan or strategy should be developed and delivered by a housing partnership that includes housing, health, social care, providers, community groups and of course, the public and older people themselves.
The taskforce makes a very similar recommendation under ‘strengthening planning policies’ that local planning authorities be required to co-produce an older people’s housing strategy in consultation with older people with lived experience and that this strategy is based on a robust local assessment of need. The taskforce further recognises that to develop and deliver such a strategy, there should ideally be a cross-functional team across housing, health and social care with single leadership.
A shared vision
At SCIE, we have been looking at how these plans can best be developed in a way that increases the likelihood they will be delivered, and what Government could do to enable this. We have been working to bridge that gap between what the commission, and now the taskforce, have recommended, and what is happening on the ground.
Earlier this year SCIE published a resource, Toolkit for place-based plans for housing for older adults, to support local areas in creating effective place-based plans that include a full range of housing options for older adults. It sets out 10 steps that can together be used to write a detailed business plan or strategy. The steps include understanding demand, understanding the local market, identifying preferences and needs, drawing on best practice, assessing costs and benefits and exploring commercial options.
In developing this toolkit, we drew on a range of existing reports, literature and resources. We also undertook detailed conversations with people from a wide range of job groups that would be involved in developing such plans, as well as those who would be interested in reading them – including developers and providers. Through these conversations, we shaped each of the steps but also heard repeatedly about the challenges of developing a housing partnership, particularly how difficult it was to bring relevant local authority departments together, and to work with health, including integrated care boards.
The inclusion of wider groups, including providers and representative groups or charities, was quite rare when developing a strategy, although their importance and experience were acknowledged, and they told us they would like to be involved. One charitable provider remarked that they would love a seat at the table if only they knew where the table was. There was in effect a ‘step zero’ to our toolkit which was developing a housing partnership.
A different approach
An innovative example of how such a partnership can be brought together to decide on its priorities is with a ‘Serious Game’. SCIE evaluated a pilot study of a Serious Game in Southwark. Developed and facilitated by Socialudo, this Serious Game enabled players to set priorities and face the repercussions of decisions to help them explore the complexities of planning for the future.
Players took on roles such as policymakers, developers, service providers and the community, often different to their day-to-day roles. This encouraged perspective taking, stepping back to view the wider picture, making difficult decisions and identifying priorities, all while working together to increase the wellbeing of residents in ‘Hopetown’. About half of the players were from Southwark Council and half from external organisations including health, charities, providers and housing associations.
Over the evaluation, we found evidence of strategic thinking, with players having time away from daily pressures to think about ageing in place, and the importance of making time for strategic planning with the right people; perspective taking, with the experience of taking on different job roles leading to a better understanding of other stakeholders; motivation to collaborate with more stakeholders, whereby the game reminded participants about the importance of networking and building connections within and outside the local authority; and enabling choice and control, whereby the importance of enabling older people to have choice and control and the need for meaningful co-production were emphasised.
Having published the toolkit and the Serious Game pilot evaluation, we have continued to work with local authorities to support them in using the toolkit to develop their own housing strategies. This journey is ongoing, but there is some initial learning that is relevant to and chimes with the taskforce’s recommendations.
No small task
Understanding your local population and the housing preferences and needs of older people now and into the future is no small task. It requires time, resources and the capacity of staff with the necessary skills. Co-producing a strategy in a housing partnership takes even more time and skill – but the strategy is more likely to be implemented.
Teams and departments can face the initial challenge of making an internal case to be permitted to undertake a detailed strategy. Those local authorities we have worked with would welcome a national policy steer, setting out an expectation that local areas produce an older people’s housing strategy. For this strategy to be co-produced and developed by a partnership, some practical support in terms of resources for experienced staff to drive forward a strategy is needed. Without this, there is a danger of strategies being tick-box and perfunctory and not acted upon.
This is a timely opportunity for Government, local areas and the wider health, social care and housing sectors. With Government’s lead, we can all play a role in moving towards the vision of high-quality housing options for us all as we age.
Missed the taskforce’s final report? Catch up here. You can also comment on this feature or join the conversation to share your thoughts.
Dr Rebekah Luff is Senior Research Analyst at the Social Care Institute for Excellence (SCIE). Email: [email protected] X: @SCIE_socialcare