Housing our ageing population

• Society is ageing and more people require housing that meets their needs as they age. Between 2014 and 2039, over 70 per cent of projected household growth will be made up of households with someone aged 60 or older. The suitability of the housing stock is of critical importance to the health of individuals and impacts on public spending, particularly adult social care, and the NHS.
• Councils are well placed to exercise local leadership and take a greater strategic approach to enhance the housing and lifestyle choices for people in later life. Integrated action in the fields of housing and planning can align with some of the most important policy areas currently challenging national and local government – how to reform and integrate the NHS, social care, and public health in the context of population ageing, and how to increase housing supply delivery and build more resilient and healthy neighbourhoods.
• Given the scale of demographic change and the centrality of this growing older population to many aspects of housing, health and care policy, there is an opportunity for the Government to set out to comprehensively address the housing needs of an ageing population for England, through working with and supporting councils and other stakeholders.

Key LGA recommendations

A strategic approach to meeting the housing needs of an ageing population

• The government uses the Task Force on Housing for Older People to launch a strategy for England to create the range of housing options and opportunities required to meet the housing needs of an ageing population.
• The government develops the guidance and distributes to councils as soon as possible the Housing Transformation Fund (£300 million) to support councils with capacity building to be able to undertake this strategic work.

Using the planning system to facilitate suitable housing for older people

• Councils set out in their evidence base as part of developing local plans, details of the need for different types of housing suited to older people, including mainstream housing that is suitably designed and/or adapted and specialist types of housing, such as retirement housing and housing with care.
• Guidelines are published by the government through the Task Force on Housing for Older People, that clarify the different housing models/typologies for older people with appropriate recommendations regarding planning Use Class and planning facilitation measures for the assessment of applications.

An integrated approach to housing, health, and care

• Councils and their NHS partners make use of the local integrated care systems (ICS) arrangements to align care and health priorities for the local older population with housing planning and delivery.
• Councils with their NHS partners use the Better Care Funding arrangements to provide housing services that are integrated with local health and care services.

Delivering a wider range of housing options suited to the needs of an ageing population

Councils with their partners enable, facilitate and/or deliver:

• mainstream housing that is designed to be adaptable to better suit the changing needs of people in later life
• housing of a range of tenures is delivered that provides choice for older people who want to rent (social/affordable and market rent) as well as people who want to buy (outright ownership and shared ownership) housing that is designed to meet their needs
• specialist types of accommodation such as retirement housing and housing with care, including options that can support people living with dementia and other complex health conditions
• housing that promotes mixed communities and inter-generational living
• opportunities to redevelop redundant office and retail space in town centres, including the potential for some sites to be used as housing suited to older people.

Adapting and future proofing existing homes

• Councils provide and/or commission home adaptations services that are part of a comprehensive approach to sustaining older people in their existing homes, for example aligning adaptations services with local ‘home from hospital’ and ‘warm homes’ programmes.

Information and advice about housing options for an ageing population

• Councils with their housing partners develop and offer impartial information and advice about housing suited to older people and their families.

Councils are key to delivery of housing for older people and planning for an ageing population. This report set out how councils are planning, developing, and delivering a range of housing opportunities and options to meet the needs of an ageing population.

This report follows on from the LGA report Housing our ageing population, published in 2017. It reflects the current and changed policy context since 2017, highlighting the benefits of achieving the right mix of housing suited to older people and the issues to consider and challenges affecting delivery. Eight new case studies are included which highlight the varied and notable actions taken by councils to meet the housing needs and requirements of their local older population.

Government projections show that over 70 per cent of UK population growth between 2014 and 2039 will be in the over 60 years old age group, an increase from 14.9 to 21.9 million people. The suitability of the housing stock is of critical importance to the health of individuals and impacts on public spending, particularly adult social care and the NHS.

Councils play a significant place making role in shaping the current and future supply of housing in their areas. With an ageing population, older people are now key players in the wider housing market and councils are well placed to exercise local leadership and take a greater strategic approach to enhance the housing and lifestyle choices for people in later life.

The case studies demonstrate how Bristol City Council, Central Bedfordshire Council, Gloucestershire County Council and partners, Kirklees Council, Leicestershire County Council, Southampton City Council, Swindon Borough Council and Telford & Wrekin Council are addressing the current and future supply of housing for an ageing population in their areas.

Action in the fields of housing and planning can align with some of the most important policy areas currently challenging national and local government – how to reform and integrate the NHS, social care, and public health in the context of population ageing, and how to increase housing supply delivery and build more resilient and healthy neighbourhoods.

Demographic context

Society is ageing and more people require housing that meets their needs as they age. ONS figures from 2018 predict that the number of people aged over 65 is forecast to rise over the next decade, from the current 10.8 million people, to 13.8 million by 2035, a 27 per cent rise. This means that approximately one in five of the total population being over 65 in 10 years’ time, which will become one in four by 2050.

Whilst people are living longer and the number of older people is rising, the advances in healthy and disability free life expectancy are not keeping track. Life expectancy figures from ONS have declined slightly recently and the number of years we can expect to spend in good health, without a disabling illness, continues to decline; this is now 62.4 years for men and 60.9 years for women. There are also significant inequalities in healthy life expectancy affected by deprivation.

The number of older people that have some form of care need is also significant and predicted to rise as is the number of over 65s living with a limiting long-term illness where daily activities are affected either significantly or in a minor way.

Older person’s housing sector

The specialist older person’s housing sector in the UK is starting to mature amid increasing recognition of the demographic trends that will underpin demand for specialised housing for older people.

The sector is also becoming more defined between retirement housing (also known as ‘independent living for older people’) and housing with care (with increased provision of communal facilities and on-site care). Although the market is becoming more established, it is still very modest in size, with capacity for significant growth.

Retirement housing (including housing with care) accounts for only around 2.6 per cent of homes across the UK. The Elderly Accommodation Counsel (EAC) estimates that there are approximately 620,000 units of retirement housing (including both ‘independent living for older people’ schemes and extra care housing schemes) in England.

Age-friendly housing design has been developed and promoted in recent years. The series of HAPPI reports have proved influential in raising awareness of the attractive design features that can make ‘retirement housing’ a product to be desired not dismissed; for example, HAPPI compliance was been built into the requirements to secure funding from the Department of Health’s Care and Support Specialised Housing Fund.

The role of digital technology in relation to housing for older people is also increasingly recognised as part of an effective building management solution to deliver smarter, more accessible, adaptable, and environmentally friendly homes. The recent report, Technology for our Ageing Population: Panel for Innovation (TAPPI), of which the LGA was a panel member, has developed a benchmark for what ‘good’ looks like in technology for housing and care including 10 ‘TAPPI’ principles which should be applied to technology and housing contexts, for example:

• adaptable – able to adapt to changing user needs and technological advances
• person-centred – putting the person first to give control over own environment, care and support needs
• co-produced – involving people to co-create solutions to inform how they want to live their lives
• inclusive – reduce digital, health, income inequalities to enable active involvement in home, local community or networks
• cost-effective – offer value for money and benefit both to individuals but also to local housing and care economies.

Planning policy

The Government’s guidance for councils in preparing planning policies on housing for older and disabled people sets out the rationale for councils: offering older people a better choice of accommodation to suit their changing needs can help them live independently for longer, feel more connected to their communities and help reduce costs to the social care and health systems. Therefore, an understanding of how the ageing population affects housing needs is something to be considered from the early stages of plan-making through to decision-taking.

The guidance sets out how councils may consider the housing needs of groups with particular needs such as older people. This guidance sets out how councils can consider proposals for the different types of housing that these groups are likely to require. They could also provide indicative figures or a range for the number of units of specialist housing for older people needed across the plan area throughout the plan period.

The guidance also suggests that councils could consider different types of specialist housing designed to meet the diverse needs of older people, which can include:

• Age-restricted general market housing: this type of housing is generally for people aged 55 and over and the active elderly. It may include some shared amenities such as communal gardens, but does not include support or care services
• Retirement living or sheltered housing: this usually consists of purpose-built flats or bungalows with limited communal facilities such as a lounge, laundry room and guest room. It does not generally provide care services but provides some support to enable residents to live independently. This can include 24-hour on-site assistance (alarm) and a warden or house manager
• Extra care housing or housing-with-care: this usually consists of purpose-built or adapted flats or bungalows with a medium to high level of care available if required, through an onsite care agency registered through the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

However, the guidance recognises that many older people may not want or need specialist accommodation or care and may wish to stay or move to general housing that is already suitable, such as bungalows, or homes which can be adapted to meet a change in their needs. Councils therefore need to identify the role that general housing may play as part of their assessment.

The National Planning Policy Framework glossary also provides definitions of older people and people with disabilities for planning purposes, which recognise the diverse range of needs that exist.

Health and social care policy

The Adult Social Care Reform White Paper recognises the importance of home in relation to care and support for older people and of an integrated approach: ‘making every decision about care a decision about housing’.

The White Paper has a focus on housing, new models of care, digital and technology. The aspiration is that people are able to say:

• I can live as part of a community, where I am connected to the people who are important to me, including friends and family, and I have the opportunity to meet people who share my interests.
• I lead a fulfilling life with access to support, aids and adaptations to maintain and enhance my wellbeing.
• I can live in my own home, with the necessary adaptions, technology, and personal support as designed by me, to enable me to be as independent as possible.
• I have a good choice of alternative housing and support options, so I am able to choose where I live and who I live with, with the opportunities to plan ahead, and take up those options in a timely fashion.

As part of the launch of the White Paper a series of measures, including substantial funding, have been announced that specifically target the housing market with the aim of helping all people with care and support needs, including older people, to live well, safely and independently. This includes:

• Invest at least £300 million over the next three years to embed the strategic commitment in all local places to connect housing with health and care and drive the stock of new supported housing. (Housing Transformation Fund).
• Invest at least £150 million of additional funding over the next three years to drive digitisation across the sector; and unlock the potential of caretech innovation that enables preventative care and independent living.
• Launch a £30 million Innovative Models of Care Programme to support local systems to build the culture and capability to embed into the mainstream innovative models of care. This will work for a changing population with more options for people that suit their needs and circumstances.
• Fund a new service to make minor repairs and changes in peoples’ homes, to help people remain independent and safe. This will happen alongside increasing the upper limit of the Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG).
• Continue to invest in the Care and Support Specialised Housing (CASSH) fund with £210 million available for the period 2022/23 to 2024/25.

This approach to integration of health, care and housing reinforces the importance for councils and their local partners of establishing a memorandum of understanding to support local delivery of the Adult Social Care Reform White Paper.

Levelling up policy

There is a significant opportunity to align specifically the redevelopment of town centres and COVID-19 recovery with the housing needs of an ageing population.

Building more town centre housing and re-purposing existing buildings for later life, especially large retail spaces such as those formerly occupied by department stores, has the potential to play a role in revitalising high streets, support older people to live independently for longer and maximise older people’s economic and social contribution to our communities.

This includes suitably designed mainstream housing that can meet changing needs as people age and appeal to a wider and younger audience (for example, larger apartments, lift access, accessible ground floor areas), in addition to more specialist housing with access to care and support.

COVID-19 has accelerated trends in the retail market and less office working will mean redundant urban buildings and a need to generate economic growth. As we begin the COVID-19 recovery, breathing new life into our high streets will be critical to the future economic prospects and the social fabric of towns right across England. Combined with longer-term trends, the pandemic and associated lockdowns have had a significant impact on high streets and town centres. In November 2020, the local data company predicted that there could be 15,000 additional empty shops in Britain.

Recent evidence has highlighted that with many retirees increasing their savings since the virus hit, ‘silver saviours’ could come to the rescue of Britain's shops and communities post-pandemic, if retirement housing developments are built in or close to town centres and high streets, notwithstanding the potential effects of the current cost of living crisis. Similar arguments apply to building more general needs housing that is suitable for later living. This also helps to connect older people to neighbourhoods.

In addition, as announced in the recent Levelling-Up White Paper, the Government is launching a new task force on the issue of older people’s housing. It will look at ways to provide better choice, quality, and security of housing for older people. This work will be taken forward in partnership with the Department of Health and Social Care.

Supported accommodation policy

The Department of Levelling up, Housing and Communities (DLUCHC) National Statement of Expectations for Supported Housing (2020) provides guidance for councils in terms of planning for, commissioning and managing the quality of supported accommodation for older and other people with care and support needs.

The DLUHC Committee has recently launched an inquiry into exempt accommodation – a type of supported housing that is exempt from Housing Benefit rules limiting rents to particular levels. This type of accommodation is used to house a range of people with support needs, including some types of supported accommodation for older people. The findings from the inquiry are likely to influence future policy in relation to supported accommodation generally and exempt accommodation specially.

In March 2022 DLUHC published a written ministerial statement about the quality and regulation of supported housing. Key measures that are expected to be introduced, which will affect housing for older people as well as other supported housing, include:

• The introduction of minimum standards for the support provided to residents. The aim of this is to ensure that residents receive the good quality support they expect and deserve to live as independently as possible and achieve their personal goals.
• New powers for local authorities in England to better manage their local supported housing market and ensure that rogue landlords cannot exploit the system to the detriment of vulnerable residents and at the expense of taxpayers.
• Changes to housing benefit regulations to seek to define care, support and supervision to improve quality and value for money across all specified supported housing provision.

There is a growing body of evidence about the value and role of older people’s housing, including specialist forms of accommodation such as retirement housing and housing with care.

The value derived from sheltered housing and extra care housing can be found in benefits to the individual, to the community and to the taxpayer, mostly as a preventative service. Research for the National Housing Federation identified clear financial benefits that are delivered by sheltered and extra care housing to local authorities across health and social care, not least in increasing independence and reducing or delaying the need for older people to enter residential care. Research by the Strategic Society found that a new specialist retirement housing unit may result in the savings to the state, per person of approximately £83,000.

Building more age friendly homes, and promoting rightsizing opportunities to older people, will help to free up larger homes for families in need of space. According to a recent report, ‘Homes for later living’, three million people over 65 want to move to a smaller property but are put off by the lack of choice.

The ‘Social Value of Sheltered Housing’ briefing by Demos evidences the social value of retirement and sheltered housing including qualitative evidence of how residents feel about living in retirement and sheltered housing. Most of these show residents feel more sociable, more autonomous, safer, healthier and overall happier in this form of housing.

Addressing older people’s housing is a vital part of the adult social care reform agenda, including Government working across and between departments. Keeping people healthy, active and independent in their own homes for longer with easy access to local amenities, will help to reduce demand on social care and health services. ‘A Home for the Ages: Planning for the Future with Age-Friendly Design’ indicates that inappropriate housing for the over-55s is projected to cost nearly £20 billion by 2041.

While the body of research available that identifies the health impacts of housing with care has been relatively limited, research for the Extra Care Charitable Trust and for Southampton City Council identified positive impacts on the health care economy; it was estimated that for each person living in housing with care settings, the financial benefit to NHS was approximately £2,000 per person per annum, which was based on:

• reductions in the number of GP visits (by housing with care residents)
• reductions in the number of community health nurse visits (amongst housing with care residents)
• reductions in the number of non-elective admissions to hospital (by housing with care residents)
• reductions in length of stay and delayed discharges from hospital (amongst housing with care residents)
• reductions in ambulance call outs, typically linked to reduced incidence of falls (amongst housing with care residents).

When quantified, it was possible to estimate that for each person living in the housing with care settings, the financial benefit to NHS was approximately £2,000 per person per annum (calculated as a financial benefit to the health care system).

Recent research for the Almshouse Association identifies that almshouses provide similar financial benefits to the social care and health economy, quality of life benefits for older people and benefits to local communities.

A study lead by the University of Worcester, undertaken about housing with care as an accommodation and care option for older and disabled people, provides evidence of the wider benefits associated with housing with care:

• There is a growing evidence base suggesting that, for some older people, housing with care offers better outcomes in terms of quality of life and independence when compared with remaining in mainstream housing. This is the case even for residents not in receipt of planned care and is partly due to some key features of the housing with care environment, including high levels of accessibility and security.
• Housing with care is very popular among those living in such schemes for a range of reasons, including the opportunities for social interaction, the availability of comprehensive facilities on site, and because the physical environment is purpose built to meet the needs of older people.
• Housing with care residents are on average less dependent, both physically and cognitively, than those living in residential care homes, but have significant needs that cannot be effectively met in traditional housing.

Older people make a huge contribution to the life of their local areas through providing unpaid care, involvement in civic organisations and other forms of volunteering. Research by the Centre for Better Ageing shows many older people have made significant contributions to their communities during the COVID-19 ‘lockdowns’, with 30 per cent of people aged 50 to 70 volunteering informally and 87 per cent saying they wanted to continue.

Age-friendly communities foster positive social connections across the generations, increase social capital and mutual support that the whole community can draw upon, and strengthen a sense of belonging to a community in a way that is largely unsung and undervalued by formal civic society.

The over 50s make up a significant and growing proportion of the workforce presenting an opportunity to make a significant economic contribution to town centres. ‘State of Aging in 2020’ states that in 2019, there were four million more workers aged 50 and over than there were in 2000, compared to 1.5 million more workers aged 25-49.

There are a range of issues and barriers that are affecting the ability of councils and their partners to plan for and deliver a range of housing solutions that will better support an ageing population.

These are issues not solely about new build housing; Centre for Ageing Better and Care and Repair England estimated that 80 per cent of the homes we will be living in by 2050 are already built. It is about making best use of the existing housing stock, the wider age-friendly built environment, age-friendly communities and supporting people in their own homes to have access to timely interventions and access to social networks.

Planning issues and constraints

The planning system can play a key role in supporting and incentivising the building of age friendly town centre homes and neighbourhood infrastructure. Age-friendly design, based on the Housing our Ageing Population Panel for Innovation (HAPPI) design principles, also needs to become mainstream, building on the government’s recent consultation on improving the accessibility of new build homes.

There are opportunities for greater consideration of purpose built and renovated age friendly homes in local plans.

There is an opportunity to work with developers of housing for older people in terms of planning policies that affect the retirement living sector – such as the distinction between the C2 (residential institutions) and C3 (dwellings) use class categories and the application of affordable housing policies to retirement communities.

Financial risk and issues

There has been an increase in non-grant funded private sector retirement housing and housing associations rebranding and improving their older people’s offer by developing more ‘mid-market’ choices, targeted at a more affluent or ‘right sizer with equity’ market, for example McCarthy & Stone and Rooftop Housing Association.

There is a need for policy and financial incentives to line up so that general housing developers are persuaded by the economic returns of designing and re-purposing properties that are aspirational and desirable to older buyers or renters. There may also need to be incentives for housing associations to invest in more social housing town centre properties that are suitable for later living, particularly where land acquisition costs can be a barrier.

In relation to financial risks that are relevant to councils and social housing providers, recent research for the National Housing Federation identified a series of actions that are necessary to minimise financial risk and incentivise housing providers to develop long term supported accommodation:

• Homes England could increase the level of capital investment in supported housing and be more flexible in providing increased capital funding grant rates (per unit/per scheme) that reflect the real costs of developing supported accommodation.
• Government could make a long-term commitment to meeting housing-related costs in supported accommodation.
• There could be reform of the Rent Standard in relation to supported housing, allowing for greater flexibility in excess of the current 10 per cent flexibility above that of general needs housing, which would help to cover the higher actual costs of developing and managing supported accommodation schemes.
• Government could commit to meeting the costs of providing support services to the people who live in supported accommodation (separate to the costs of care).

Supporting older people to move

Many people in later life want to ‘rightsize’, but there is a chronic under-supply of high quality, affordable or desirable accommodation in the right locations.

More positive and aspirational marketing of age friendly general needs and more specialist housing choices will help to persuade older people of the benefits of ‘rightsizing’ and town centre living.

Research by Demos has shown that many people are interested in moving in later stages of life to support wellbeing and reducing future care costs. However, ‘help to buy’ incentives such as removal of stamp duty for older people buying retirement housing and ‘help to move’ or de-cluttering services are not always available to make the transition easy, although some retirement housing providers are increasingly directly providing some of these types of services to assist older people to move.

Research undertaken by the Housing LIN with over 1,000 older people, on behalf of councils and housing providers, consistently identifies that older people are seeking better quality information about different housing options suited to later life and the opportunity for both online and face to face advice about these options.

Support for people in their existing homes

There is a need to also consider creating a better housing ‘offer’ for older people in existing poor quality or unsuitable mainstream housing in disrepair or poor condition. Care & Repair England estimates that 78 per cent of the older households living in non-decent homes are disadvantaged homeowners, with issues such as lack of accessibility, need for adaptation and fuel poverty. The evidence review of the role of home adaptations in improving later life commissioned by the Centre for Ageing Better provides further guidance on how to address these issues and barriers

The review found good evidence that both minor and major home adaptations can improve a range of outcomes for people in later life, especially when they are done in combination with any necessary repairs, are delivered in a timely manner and are in line with people’s personal goals.

A series of detailed case studies demonstrate good practice in how councils are addressing the housing needs of an ageing population, addressing a range of issues including cross tenure approaches in mainstream and specialist housing, adapting existing stock, and promoting age friendly housing design.

• Bristol City Council: Better Lives at Home programme
• Central Bedfordshire Council: A community-led approach to developing age-friendly housing
• Gloucestershire: A joint action plan for healthy homes
• Kirklees Council: An evidence base for the housing needs of older, ethnic minority communities
• Leicestershire County Council: Increasing housing choices for older people
• Southampton City Council: Housing for older people and the benefits for local social care
• Swindon Borough Council: Innovate housing solutions for older people in inter-generational communities
• Telford & Wrekin Council: Using planning policy for a wider mix of housing for older people

A strategic approach to meeting the housing needs of an ageing population

It is recommended that:

• the Government uses the Task Force on Housing for Older People to launch a strategy for England to create the range of housing options and opportunities required to meet the housing needs of an ageing population
• councils produce a local evidence base that identifies the need for different housing and accommodation options that are needed by older people in their local area, such as the older people’s housing need assessment undertaken by Kirklees Council
• councils use this evidence base to develop local plans and strategies, such as the investment prospectus developed by Leicestershire County Council, as a means to attract investment in the housing required in their local area by older people
• the Government develops the guidance and distributes to councils as soon as possible the Housing Transformation Fund (£300 million) in order to support councils with capacity building to be able to undertake this strategic work.

Using the planning system to facilitate suitable housing for older people

It is recommended that:

• councils set out in their evidence base as part of developing local plans, details of the need for different types of housing suited to older people, including mainstream housing that is suitably designed and/or adapted and specialist types of housing, such as retirement housing and housing with care
• councils consider developing guidance for developers, for example as Supplementary Planning Documents (SPD), such as the SPD for accessible and specialised housing developed by Telford & Wrekin Council, as a way of directly influencing the market to deliver the types of housing and accommodation required by older people
• guidelines are published by the Government through the Task Force on Housing for Older People, that clarify the different housing models/typologies for older people with appropriate recommendations regarding planning Use Class and planning facilitation measures for the assessment of applications.

An integrated approach to housing, health and care

It is recommended that:

• councils and their NHS partners make use of the local Integrated Care Systems arrangements to align care and health priorities for the local older population with housing planning and delivery, for example such as Southampton City Council’s approach to demonstrating the benefits to the health and social care system of housing with care services for older people
• councils with their NHS partners use their Better Care Fund arrangements to provide housing services that are integrated with local health and care services, such as the Health and Housing programme operated by Gloucestershire County Council with its district/borough council and NHS partners
• councils, together with their NHS partners, identify and make use of surplus land and property assets, where there is evidence of need, for example to develop integrated housing and community-based health facilities.
• councils with their NHS and housing partners produce a local health and housing Memorandum of Understanding.

Delivering a wider range of housing options suited to the needs of an ageing population

It is recommended that councils with their partners enable, facilitate and/or deliver:

• mainstream housing that is designed to be adaptable to better suit the changing needs of people in later life
• housing of a range of tenures is delivered that provides choice for older people who want to rent (social/affordable and market rent) as well as people who want to buy (outright ownership and shared ownership) housing that is designed to meet their needs
• specialist types of accommodation such as retirement housing and housing with care, including options that can support people living with dementia and other complex health conditions
• housing that promotes mixed communities and inter-generational living, such as the Oakfield development in Swindon
• support for community led housing options, including with older people, such as the approach taken by Central Bedfordshire Council
• opportunities to redevelop redundant office and retail space in town centres, including the potential for some sites to be used as housing suited to older people.

Adapting and future proofing existing homes

It is recommended that councils:

• provide and/or commission home adaptations services that are part of a comprehensive approach to sustaining older people in their existing homes, for example aligning adaptations services with local ‘home from hospital’ and ‘warm homes’ programmes, such as the adaptations service provided by the councils in Gloucestershire as part of a wider housing and health service model
• consider providing and/or commissioning home adaptations services across council boundaries as this offers scope for economies of scale
• align the provision of home adaptations services with the provision of care enabled technology, for example by councils encouraging their local housing partners and technology companies to promote information about digitally enabled technology offers and products aimed at supporting older people to maintain their independence.

Information and advice about housing options for older people

It is recommended that:

• councils with their housing partners develop and offer impartial information and advice about housing suited to older people and their families.