Here is an update on several useful reports published in the last month or so that consider issues of housing and ageing:
- Published in October Housing and Ageing: Linking Strategy to future delivery for Scotland, Wales and England 2030, recommends that housing should play a central role in the provision of services for older people. Led by the University of Stirling, this cross border research concludes that housing should be at the heart of service integration whether older people choose to stay in their existing home or move.
- The Government launched its first cross-Government strategy to tackle loneliness in October too. There is a chapter on housing.
- Poor housing occupied by people with long term health problems or disability, particularly older home-owners, is a major and growing problem in the North of England and requires urgent government action. This is the headline conclusion of a new report, The hidden costs of poor quality housing in the North published by the Northern Housing Consortium The report calls for a new Decent Private Homes grants programme, arguing that there is strong evidence that intervention costs would be offset against reduced care and health expenditure.
- Adapting for Ageing, published by the Centre for Ageing Better, highlights local innovation and good practice in delivery of home adaptations for older people by pioneers across England.
The report, researched and written by Care & Repair England, describes a range of innovative approaches to enable councils, commissioners, home improvement agencies and social housing providers to learn from the good practice it has uncovered.
It describes what a ‘good’ service looks like from the perspective of older people, providing a breakdown of key factors against which local areas can review their own services. [October 2018]
Older People and Housing Action 