Older tenants in social housing make up 40% of under-occupied homes

Those of us working in, and residents living in, later living know the benefits it can bring to physical and mental health of older people; and societal benefits of reducing pressure on the NHS and helping to alleviate the housing crisis as more family homes become free.

But there is an issue of ‘moving on’ and plenty of misconceptions about retirement housing schemes that are putting people off from leaving their larger properties and finding better suited places to live.

As a result, there are thousands of people at retirement age in houses that – on paper – are too big for them.

Our research

In a sample size of more than 200,000 properties gathered from registered housing providers, spanning more than 200 local authorities, we found that 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.

The research also found that the proportion of people living in under-occupied homes increases the older the lead tenant is and the data shows the same trend across all1 regions in England and Scotland for social housing.

Overall, 1 in 10 (10%) general needs rented properties are ‘under-occupied’ (a property was considered to be ‘under-occupied’ if it had a single tenant or couple living in a 3 bedroom+ house).

In a separate research survey2, we found almost 6 out of 10 (59%) people aged 50 and over had no plan to, or did not know if they would ever, downsize one day, with those living in social rented accommodation least likely to rightsize their home (64% opted no or don’t know), compared to those who own their property with a mortgage, who were most likely to rightsize (49% opted yes).

So clearly greater education is needed for our ever-ageing population.

Full housing lifecycle

While we appreciate that some people need more rooms for a home office or frequent visitors, we wanted to explore whether our hypothesis that the number of people in homes that are too big for them ‘on paper’ does increase with the age of the lead tenant, which this analysis clearly demonstrates.

The government’s obsession with first-time buyers is a skewed view that is compounding the issues we’re seeing in housing. However, with a government-led Older People’s Housing Task Force on the cards, there needs to be more thought into the whole housing lifecycle – more quality later living provision for ‘last time movers’ would help to move people up and on in the ladder, freeing up much-needed first and family homes within social housing schemes, and private properties as well as potentially extending the healthy life expectancy age. Surely this is a task worth pursuing?

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Hear more from Louise Drew (opens new window), head of building communities and the research conducted by law firm Shakespeare Martineau (opens new window)  at the Housing LIN’s Summit – A Festival of Ideas, week commencing Monday, 27 February 2023, of which Shakespeare Martineau is a proud sponsor. Secure your place here!

And, if you found Louise’s blog of interest, check out a range of other news, views and resources on freeing up accommodation on the Housing LIN’s dedicated page here.