10 Key Takeaways from the Extra Care Housing: Past, Present, Future Conference
We extend our heartfelt gratitude to all who joined us at the #ECHPastPresentFuture (opens new window) event in Harrogate last Friday (10/11/23).
It was a pleasure to co-host on this occasion alongside North Yorkshire Council, ADASS, and LGA Partners in Care and Health to collectively explore the future landscape of housing with care for older people over the next 20 years.
Event Overview
To mark the 20th anniversary of the first Extra Care scheme being introduced in North Yorkshire, this conference welcomed key figures in the specialist housing and care sectors.
Lord Best, Chair of the Housing and Care for Older People APPG and series of HAPPI reports set out his thoughts on the next phase of Extra Care Housing. The conference was also attended by members of the Government-appointed, independent Older People’s Housing Taskforce, which gave them an opportunity to learn about the barriers and opportunities to tackle pressures linked with delivering housing for older people.
Other delegates included representatives from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the Department of Health and Social Care, and Homes England as well as specialist housing providers such as ARCO, Housing 21, Lovell Later Living and the Audley Group and 36 other local authorities.
Speaking at the conference, Ian Copeman, Business Director at Houising LIN, shares 10 Key themes and messages shared throughout the day:
Retaining and attracting a mixed economy of operators is an essential part of having a credible delivery programme for extra care housing in all market sectors as well as maintaining existing schemes as attractive places to live.- This is important if there is to be a wider range of extra care housing offers that are financially accessible to more people.
- Local authorities need to have a clear statement of their extra care housing requirements to inform the market.
- Local authorities should ideally have clearly identifiable Lead Officers for extra care housing.
- Providers and local authorities are likely to need to manage an increasingly wide and complex mix of needs/requirements of people living in extra care housing.
- There is a need to facilitate a viable operating environment for care providers which enables them to recruit and retain staff.
- Local authorities and providers are increasingly collaborating to share intelligence to provide a more nuanced understanding of future demand for extra care housing with more emphasis on a blend of customer research alongside more traditional quantitative estimates.
- Local authorities often need to use sites in their ownership and their own capital investment to secure extra care housing development in the social sector.
- A collaborative approach between local authorities and providers to marketing extra care housing is required to reach the widest range of potential customers, both to people who may want to purchase and people who may want or need to rent.
- There is a need to consider the terminology and branding that is used; the term ‘extra care housing’ is not meaningful to some potential residents.
Housing LIN’s chief executive officer, Jeremy Porteus, said:
“We were proud to support this conference in North Yorkshire as an opportunity to reflect on and plan for future Extra Care housing, and even more delighted to see so many sector-wide leaders gather for such an occasion.
“Drawing from our experience overseeing the Department of Health's Extra Care Housing Fund from 2004 to 2015, Housing LIN views Extra Care housing as a model that aligns housing, health, and social care services to provide a comprehensive and supportive environment for individuals with care and support needs, particularly older adults. By holding an insightful event such as this, we seek to improve health outcomes, enhance the quality of life, and promote efficient resource use in the context of care.”
Adult Social Care Commissioners Network
In addition, we are pleased to collaborate with LGA and ADASS to establish an extra care housing network for local authority commissioners. The network is intended to bring together local authority commissioners to share intelligence, insights, issues and case studies in relation to planning for, commissioning and developing extra care housing as well as operational practice considerations. This network will meet online and in-person.
Find out more and get in touch!
To download the slides and hear directly from some of the speakers, visit the event’s webpage.
Find out more the latest information about extra care housing in a rapidly changing market here.
If would like to get in touch with our consultancy team about any issues raised above, please get in touch via consultancy@housinglin.org.uk.
And for all other resources published by the Housing LIN about North Yorkshire Council's approach to extra care housing over the last 20 years, read the following case studies below: