Nearly two years after the Older People’s Housing Taskforce published its report, ‘Our future homes: Housing that promotes wellbeing and community for an ageing population’, the government has published its response, setting out a future ‘roadmap’ on how it aims to drive the Taskforce’s recommendations forward.
Published in November 2024, the Taskforce report made over 90 recommendations from its findings, presented in 10 defining chapters; from better access to advice and information on housing options in later life; greater transparency for consumers on what the costs on offer in the leasehold sector are; improved age-friendly and dementia-inclusive design and technology; and stronger national, regional and local leadership to deliver a wider range of affordable housing choices.
In highlighting that there will be a future ‘roadmap’, Baroness Sharon Taylor OBE, Minister of Housing and Communities in the House of Lords, in a joint response with the Department of Health and Social Care, made the link between housing and the government’s NHS 10-year Health Plan and the work of the Casey Commission to reform adult social care. She states:
We are already taking forward significant reforms that will help foster a better housing system for an ageing society. Through planning reform, investment in social and affordable housing, leasehold and commonhold reform and support for home adaptations, we are laying the groundwork for change.
In particular, the response outlines the government’s vision – for every older person to live in a home that suits their needs, their health and their independence, supporting them to age in their community, and sets out their considerations against each of the 10 overarching chapters and the Taskforce’s core recommendations.
It notes the recommendation to drive forward research and development to better support our ageing population and learn ‘what works’, including creating and funding a long-term research programme. However, it believes that this recommendation is best led by the sector, specifically highlighting the SHAPE programme as an example of this.
Jeremy Porteus, CEO of Housing LIN – our partner on the SHAPE programme – said: “Hot off the launch last month of the £3m SHAPE Challenge Fund and Evidence Exchange, I am very pleased to see SHAPE referenced in the response today. We can now get stuck in supporting government, the older people’s housing sector and wider industry to take the recommendations seriously.
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Find the SHAPE Challenge Fund call for applications here.
You can view The Older People’s Housing Taskforce Report: government response here.
