Developing local housing partnerships: a Serious Game for older people’s housing

This report presents the findings from a pilot study of a ‘Serious Game’ called Hopetown, an innovative tool for developing local housing partnerships, led by the Social Care Institute for Excellence in partnership with Socialudo, United St Saviour's Charity and Housing LIN. 

Funded by the Dunhill Medical Trust, the pilot study was conducted in Southwark, London, in early October 2023 over a two-day period with a group of key stakeholders in the local authority and local organisations including health, housing, social care and community groups.

Within the ‘Serious Game’, people are able to face the repercussions of decisions and priorities to help explore the complexities of planning for the future. Players take on roles such as policy makers, developers, service providers and the community, often different to the one they usually do day-to-day (eg, policy makers cannot play as policy makers in the game) to encourage a paradigm shift in thinking while working together to increase the wellbeing of residents in ‘Hopetown’.

The pilot demonstrated that Hopetown can help to bring together and support the development of a local housing partnership. Initial impact indicates that it can help strengthen and build relationships between organisations. Hopetown provides an engaging and imaginative method of bringing people together, breaking down silos and enabling headspace for strategic thinking.

Jeremy Porteus, CEO of Housing LIN, said:

“We are delighted to have been a partner in this exciting project. Taking part in the Serious Game unlocks the ability to reimagine where we want to live, what our age-friendly homes and communities can and should look like and identify the necessary actions needed to make this possible.”

The report was also published alongside a toolkit (opens new window) that supports the creation of a business plan.