Planning


An accommodation crisis facing all ages


Zoe Curran, senior planner at Boyer (part of the LRG Group) explains why we must not leave the older generation behind in the race to fix the housing crisis


The government has committed to building 1.5 million new homes this parliament. But for the most part, attention is focused on those struggling to buy their first home. While this is clearly an important focus, another crisis is unfolding which affects those at the other end of the age spectrum just as severely and is a pressing concern for the nation’s specialist housing providers. As the independent report Our future


homes: housing that promotes wellbeing and community for an ageing population reiterates, the UK faces a serious shortage of purpose-built housing for later living. Currently, only around 5,000 to 7,000 Later Living Homes (LLH) are constructed each year, despite total annual housebuilding figures reaching approximately 200,000. Both figures fall far short of requirements, with estimates suggesting that between 30,000 and 50,000 new LLH are required annually to stay aligned with the country’s ageing demographic. What’s more, with an ageing population – an estimated 8.3 million people (26 per cent of the population) will be 65 or over by 2066 – should LLH not be further up the agenda?


Regardless of these concerning statistics, planning policy does not adequately address need. This is worrying for the sector as, without necessary changes to planning policy, it seems inevitable that the ongoing shortcomings are more likely to exacerbate rather than abate the challenges we face.


A new NPPF Fresh from its election victory in July, Labour moved swiftly to revise the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF), culminating in the publication of the 2024 edition in December. Much of the


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content of the NPPF is welcomed by the wider development industry as a means of tackling the housing deficit. But what do these changes mean for specialist housing, particularly the later living sector?


Increased housing targets; increased need The updated NPPF reinstates mandatory housing targets, requiring councils to plan for 370,000 homes per year. But it remains unclear how these benchmarks account for the UK’s shifting demographics. According to the 2021 Census, nine per cent of the population of England and Wales is aged 75 or over, and 18 per cent of the population is 65 or over. It is therefore becoming increasingly important that an adequate proportion of housing growth should be tailored to later living.


Despite this data, the Retirement Housing Group UK’s (RHG’s) report Planning for retirement? How the planning system needs to change to better support the delivery of specialist housing for older people demonstrates just how the availability of specialist housing for senior citizens has failed miserably to keep pace. Alarmingly,


Planning policy does not adequately address need


the number of properties per thousand individuals aged 75 and over has fallen from 139 in 2015 to just 110 in 2021 (a 21 per cent drop). Moreover, a mere six per cent of over- 65s presently live in specialist Later Living accommodation, and less than one per cent in housing with care. RHG believes that the provision of


specialist housing for the elderly must increase substantially, from the current average of 7,000 homes to 30,000 per year. It is vital that this target reflects the wide-ranging housing demands of all communities, including LLH. With socioeconomic transitions approaching, careful planning is crucial to catering to these changes.


Affordability is another important matter. Research from the Older People’s Housing Taskforce reveals that current private leasehold later living choices are out of reach for the majority of English households aged 75 and over. Yet, this remains a key point of contention, with the NPPF reforms offering no defined strategy to resolve it.


An absence of change in national planning policy To the dismay of the later living industry, the focus of Chapter 5 of the NPPF


www.thecarehomeenvironment.com September 2025


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