Older Buyers Being Excluded From Housing Market

 An estate agent says the housing market now has a hidden characteristic - an absence of homes that are friendly for older people. Loveitts Estate Agents says the issue is nationwide. In a statement it says: “With many inner-city properties being untenable for elderly or disabled people, matters have only been worsened by housing policy focusing prominently on helping first-time buyers.” Last year, NHBC registered a total of 123,151 new homes in 2020, compared to 160,319 in 2019.  Of those registered in 2020, just 1,942 were bungalows - the most popular form of home for many older buyers, especially those with mobility issues. Read more on the Estate Agent Today website.

https://www.estateagenttoday.co.uk/breaking-news/2021/8/older-buyers-being-excluded-from-housing-market-warns-agency

Surging House Prices See £1bn In Property Wealth Released

Older homeowners have taken advantage of the rapid escalation of house prices to release more than £11.3m in property wealth a day during the first three months of the year. The average customer received £103,710 – a 25% increase over the £83,242 released in the first quarter of 2020 – highlighting how over-55s are confidently using their housing equity to support family and ease the pressure on income by managing debt. Total equity released (including drawdown and further advances) in the three months to March 31st increased by 12.8% to £1.07 billion from £950.59 million in the same period last year despite plan sales falling by 9.5% to 10,341 from 11,423. Read more on the Property Reporter website.

Surging house prices see £1bn in property wealth released during Q1 | Property Reporter

Health Of Older People Suffering In Poor Housing

More than 2 million older people are suffering physical and mental ill health and even death as a consequence of living in substandard and non-accessible homes, according to a cross-party group of MPs. Substandard housing costs the NHS £1.4bn every year with cold, damp and other hazards causing falls and exacerbating conditions such as heart disease, strokes, respiratory illnesses and arthritis as well as contributing to poor mental health, according to an in-depth inquiry by the all-party parliamentary group for ageing and older people. Read more on the Guardian website.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jul/03/health-of-older-people-suffering-in-poor-housing-mps-warn

Government Has No Plans For Stamp Duty Holiday To Encourage Downsizing

Before the Autumn Budget there were calls for older people in Britain wanting to downsize to be given a stamp duty holiday to encourage them to do so and free up houses for families. But the Government has now made it clear that it does not back such a move and has no intention of introducing any such tax break. In written evidence to Parliament’s communities and local government committee on the subject of housing for older people, the Treasury says that providing a tax break for those looking to downsize benefits an already wealthy group of people. Read more on Property Wire.

Government Should ‘Throw Weight Behind’ Council Housing Companies

The government should “throw its weight behind” council housing companies, the chair of the Local Government Association (LGA) has said. Lord Gary Porter was responding to a report from the Smith Institute which reveals a “quiet revolution” in council housebuilding, with around 150 councils setting up housing companies despite little government support. The report shows that increasing numbers of councils are directly funding their own housing companies without government grant to try and meet local housing need, mostly building homes for private rent and sale. Some are recycling the company’s profits to subsidise new affordable and social rented homes, as well as providing temporary accommodation and housing for older people. Read a summary of the report on the Smith Institute website.

Nation Faces Older People Homelessness ‘Time Bomb’

The nation is facing a “ticking time bomb” in the number of homeless older people after latest figures showed an alarming rise of 130 per cent since its lowest point eight years ago, councils warn. The Local Government Association says that older homelessness is a growing hidden phenomenon that needs greater understanding. Latest figures show that between April and June this year, councils accepted 620 people aged over 60 as homeless – at a rate of nearly 10 a day. This is up from the 270 accepted between October and December 2009, which was the lowest number since records began in 2005. Read more on the LGA website.

Things The Government Needs To Consider About Supported Housing Funding

1)      The funding framework has to be adequately sized and resourced, so that people do not fall into arrears on the transition to the new system

2)      Funding needs to reflect the actual costs of supported housing

3)      The long term funding, distribution and protection of the top up fund will be critical to sustain existing schemes, and ensure new development

4)      A different model is needed for crisis and emergency schemes

5)      Local authorities will need support to develop strong and robust partnerships to ensure effective commissioning of future schemes

6)      Older people have been excluded from welfare changes and there is an argument that, until the full roll out of UC, they should continue to be so

Read more on the CIH website.

Older People To Get Help To Downsize

Theresa May’s government will use its flagship housing strategy to make it easier for older people to move into smaller homes, which could free up larger properties for families. A policy to incentivise more good-quality, new-build sheltered accommodation will be included in a white paper, which also aims to break the dominance of a limited number of large housebuilders. Councils, housing associations and smaller developers will be encouraged to build more as the government sets out how it plans to meet a target of 1m new homes by 2020. Read more on the Guardian website.

Councils Fury At New Homes Bonus Cut

The announcement that funding for older people would come out of the New Homes Bonus resulted in an angry response from councils who called it a “sticking plaster” solution. Cllr Neil Clarke, chairman of the District Councils’ Network (DCN) said: “The New Homes Bonus (NHB) scheme has provided a powerful and popular growth incentive in localities, enabling councils to grant more planning permissions, making development more acceptable for local communities – which have seen the benefits of growth through investment in supporting infrastructure and the delivery of homes where they are needed most. Some district councils will receive no New Homes Bonus as a result of this change, contrary to the government’s aspiration to encourage growth, and we call on the government to reduce the level of the baseline, to reduce the impact on all district councils.” Read more on 24housing.

Knock Down Barriers To Build More Affordable Rural Homes

The CLA which represents landowners, farmers and rural businesses told a cross-party group of MPs that landowners have the potential to inject life into rural areas by making land available to house young families, local workers and older people seeking to downsize or retire. But the organisation warned that government policies such as extending the Right to Buy to housing association tenants discouraged landowners from making sites available because the homes would become unaffordable in the future. The CLA is calling for the government to encourage landowners to release land at a discount for affordable housing by exempting the value of land sold for affordable homes from Capital Gains Tax. Read more on 24housing.

'Grim Conditions' Put Older Tenants At Risk

Vulnerable older people endure shocking conditions in the private rental sector, leaving them at risk of neglect, bullying and abuse, according to Age UK. The charity warns that, with growing numbers of people renting into their old age, urgent reforms are needed to make sure older tenants are not living in "squalor". It has seen cases involving privately rented homes with only an outside toilet, homes with broken boilers and leaking taps and homes left without cooking facilities for months. Some family members of those renting told Age UK they thought the landlord was waiting for the tenant to die before taking action to improve the property. Read more on the Daily Mail website.

The Government Has Left Older People's Sheltered Housing In Limbo

Anxiety around the government’s proposal to cap housing benefit for tenants in sheltered housing has been growing ever since it was mooted, almost a year ago. The announcement on 15 September by the work and pensions secretary Damian Green did nothing to quell those fears. Indeed, older people and providers of specialist housing are now faced with an even longer period of uncertainty. Possibly the most shocking thing about the lengthy statement is the fact that it managed to omit any mention at all of older people. Read the full statement on the Parliament website.

Housing Crisis is Driving the Generations Apart, Literally

Profound changes in where older and younger generations live over the last 25 years, due in large part to the housing crisis, is literally driving the generations apart, according to a new report from the Intergenerational Foundation. Across England and Wales, the number of neighbourhoods in which half the population is aged over 50 has risen sevenfold since 1991. In 1991 there were just 65 such neighbourhoods. This rose to 485 in 2014, 60% of which are rural. The research reveals that since 1991 rural areas have aged almost twice as fast as urban areas, as young people have moved away to towns and cities. Download the report from the IF website.

New Home Building Needs To Address The Needs Of Older People

New home building in the UK to cope with the country’s chronic shortage of housing should not concentrate just on the needs of first time buyers and younger people, according to a new report from the International Longevity Centre UK (ILC-UK).  Whilst the Government’s focus on first time buyers is understandable faster progress in helping these younger generations get on the housing ladder would be made if more energy was put into meeting the housing needs and aspirations of their parents and grandparents. The report calls for more housing to be built by local authorities, a wider range of commissioners of new house building, better rental offers for older people with secure tenancies, more shared ownership options for older people and overall greater choice for older people in general needs housing.  Read more on the ILC website.

Downsizing And Why Britain Needs A Plan To House Our Elderly

A new report has just put the spotlight on older people downsizing, suggesting that millions of under-occupied homes would be freed up and those moving would gain health and quality of life benefits. According to the report, part of the Housing our Ageing Population: Positive Ideas series from the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Housing and Care for Older People, there are eight million people in the UK interested in downsizing. This, according to the APPG, could free up 3.5 million homes, including two million three or four-bedroom homes. Read more on the Extra Care website.

MPs: Ministers Must Focus More On Older People's Housing

Ministers must stop focusing “exclusively” on young first-time buyers and increase the supply of older people’s housing to free up family homes, a report has said. The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Housing and Care for Older People has published a report looking at ways of stimulating both demand for, and supply of, homes for older people.  The report, the latest in the APPG’s Housing Our Ageing Population: Positive Ideas series, makes a number of recommendations to ministers and the sector. It cites work previously commissioned by the APPG showing eight million people over the age of 60 are interested in downsizing. Download the report from the Parliament website.

Housing Crisis: The Next Problem Area Will Be Retirement Homes

At the heart of difficulties in residential care lies the ageing of the UK population. The effects of improved life expectancy are most obvious among over 85s, for whom the cost of care is greatest and whose number is forecast to grow by 18 per cent over the next five years. The over 65s group is close behind at 12 per cent. At the same time, people are increasingly choosing new forms of accommodation in later life such as assisted living, relocating earlier while living for longer. Altogether this will generate a fresh tide in demand for residential care, set to rise 15 per cent between 2015/16 and 2020/211. Presently swelling demand is outpacing supply, where a bottleneck is holding back investment. Read more on the City AM website.

Housing At Risk For More Than 400,000 Vulnerable People

Ninety-five percent of supported housing providers would be forced to close housing schemes for vulnerable and older people if a planned housing benefit cap goes ahead. The capping of housing benefit at local housing allowance levels for social housing tenants, announced in the chancellor’s spending review, represents a major threat to the financial viability of such schemes because the intensive housing management required is paid for by charging higher rents. These rents are covered by housing benefit for those residents unable to work. More than 440,000 vulnerable people, many of them pensioners, live in housing association homes that are now at risk across England. These include sheltered housing and extra care for frail elderly people, and supported housing schemes for people recovering from alcohol and substance misuse, young people leaving care and women fleeing domestic violence. Read more on the Guardian website.

Housing Benefit Cap Would Be The Death Knell For Supported Housing

Housing groups are anxiously lobbying the Government to reconsider proposals to cap Housing Benefit for new tenants in supported housing at Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates. Supported housing provides specialist accommodation for older people, the mentally ill and people with disabilities. Experts warn that the LHA rate is insufficient to meet the housing costs of tenants in supported housing, and could leave schemes on the brink of collapse or only open to wealthier tenants. Around half of housing associations and social landlords provide supported housing, with 110,665 new tenancies granted in 2014/15. However, news of the new cap has resulted in supporting housing providers placing a hold on new developments. Read more on the Welfare Weekly website.

Housing Benefit Cuts Would 'Affect Schemes For Vulnerable'

Housing projects helping more than 400,000 vulnerable adults face closure because of government welfare cuts. The Treasury's decision to cap housing benefit at the level available for private rents makes many schemes unviable, according to the research carried out by housing providers. The housing cap is part of a £12bn package of cuts from the welfare bill. The government refuted the figures and called the claims "spurious". The Labour Party, which commissioned the research, said under the proposed cuts an annual shortfall of £400m would put the frail and elderly at risk of losing their homes. Read more on the BBC website.