A place we can call home: A vision and a roadmap for providing more options for housing with care and support for older people

This report, published by the Commission on the Role of Housing in the Future of Care and Support is called 'A place we can call home: A vision and a roadmap for providing more options for housing with care and support for older people'.

The Commission looked at the spectrum of housing options that provide care and support, including retirement housing, care homes, extra care, Shared Lives, supported living and co-housing and heard from a range of older people about the challenges and difficulties they face – and the choices they want to see.

The report includes a number of recommendations for national government, for local authorities and local partners, and for developers and providers and paints a picture of what the route to achieving more choice, more consistently provides could look like:

For national government

• Create a national long-term vision and strategy for housing with care and support for older people, co-produced with people with lived experience and other key stakeholders.
• Legislate for a new Housing Future Fund that obliges partners in local places including the NHS and local authorities to pool statutory funding and work together to develop a single plan for housing for older people.
• Streamline and simplify the national planning framework and guidance to encourage greater levels of investment in housing with care and support development.
• Increase capital investment in housing with care developments particular of approaches to housing with care which support people to live independently.
• Invest in improved information, advice and advocacy to support people to find the right option for them.

For local authorities and local partners

• Form local partnerships to produce a single plan for improving housing for older people within a local place, co-produced with people who draw on support.
• Establish and resource local co-production forums made up of, and speaking for, older people from all kinds of backgrounds, to influence planning, commissioning and design of housing.

For developers and providers

• Provide a diverse range of different housing with care and support options for older people, broadening choice at all levels of affordability.
• Developers should ensure that all new developments adopt the 10 HAPPI design principles as a minimum which provide guidelines for the production of high-quality housing with care and support. (opens new window)

The report concludes that an overhaul is needed on how housing with care and support is planned, commissioned, designed and delivered, and calls for ambitious plans for housing with care and support to be at the heart of the White Paper for social care.