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Louise Drew is partner and head of building communities at Shakespeare Martineau
Right sizing could be the answer to the housing crisis
Housing size is poorly distributed across generations, and ‘right-sizing’ the older generation could make a major contribution to easing pressure. But, Louise Drew asks, how should it be done?
In general needs social housing, over-65s account for 40% of ‘under-occupied’ homes, compared to under-35s, who account for just 4% of under-occupied rented properties.
In a sample size of more than 200,000 properties gathered from registered housing providers, spanning more than 200 local authorities, our data analysis shows the same trend across all regions in England and Scotland for social housing.
A property was considered to be ‘under-occupied’ if it had a single tenant or a couple living in a three-bedroom house.
We would anticipate this trend to be similar across private rented and privately owned homes. Indeed, further research we conducted showed that almost six out of 10 (59%) people aged 50 and over had no plan to, or did not know if they would ever, downsize one day.
The Office for National Statistics’ latest figures show that the healthy life expectancy – the average number of years that an individual is expected to live in a state of self-assessed good or very good health – is 62.8 years. Our research showed that, on average, over-50s do not plan on moving into a right-sized property until they are 70.6 years old.
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People’s reluctance to right-size into a property that better suits their needs before a health crisis hits is a two-fold issue for society.
Not only is it having an impact on the NHS and social care crisis in that more people are living in unsuitable homes that may have a negative impact on their health, but it is also having a severe knock-on effect on the housing crisis as more young families are living in cramped accommodation.
During the Housing 2022 conference, we hosted a round table to discuss the matter of ‘moving on’, how we make later living for everyone and how we combat negative stereotypes.
The event included panellists from across private, not-for-profit and charitable housing as well as architects, academics and legal experts.
Key takeaways include:
A need for quotas
It’s clear that the government underestimates the potential that later living has on helping us out of the housing crisis – in order to create truly sustainable communities there should be later living use class and quotas for developments in the same way we do for affordable housing.
Housing providers around the table agreed that sense of community was crucial for residents and not wanting to leave their hyperlocal area was a key barrier to older people choosing to right-size – having suitable homes within the same development could encourage more to move in later life, and before crisis strikes.
Intergenerational living like this would also combat the negative associations of isolation and institution within later living as 28% of over-50s said they wouldn’t want to ‘live in a community of older people’ and 19% were concerned about becoming more isolated if in a later living scheme.
Return on investment
There needs to be more research into the long-term savings for local and national government. To encourage action we need to demonstrate the impact suitable housing will have on public services in pounds and pence – in saving costs for the NHS and improved quality of life.
Increase in innovation
We need more innovation in the sector if we are going to see greater adoption. This could include open days for local residents to experience later living, or use vacant apartments as Airbnb-style holiday homes. Virtual reality headsets that enable people to visualise the accommodation and ‘walk through it’ from the comfort of their own home could also help encourage greater adoption.
Innovations in design should also be considered; can we build duplex-style homes that can be split when residents are no longer able to use the stairs and rent the top floor? Can we simply build new homes with later life in mind, such as mid-level plug sockets and wider doors with adaptable living spaces?
Meaningful conversations
By having more meaningful conversations with communities, we can get a better understanding of what they want and need and, importantly, why.
Preferences will vary depending on the surrounding location and user experience; some may have grown up in terrace-style homes and feel comfortable with this, others might be from villages and want a cottage style – you can’t put everyone in a design box simply because of their age.
Capturing hearts and minds
Our ongoing research shows us that we haven’t got the story quite right – there is still a lot of negativity when it comes to later living, particularly as people continue to confuse schemes with nursing homes. In fact, a quarter of respondents believed they would lose their independence on moving into later living, despite the sector being keen to push the message that suitable housing prolongs independence in later life.
Collaboration will be key in increasing adoption of later living and it will require people from across the sector, government, local authorities and the public to pull together to improve perception and push projects up the priority list, placing it level pegging with First Homes so our society fully considers the housing life cycle.
Louise Drew, partner and head of building communities, Shakespeare Martineau
