By The announcement of a cross-government taskforce on housing for older people has been welcomed by experts in Later Living at national law firm Clarke Willmott LLP.
Announced as part of the commitment by the government to level-up housing and care options for older people in the UK, the taskforce has the potential to speed up development of retirement communities and benefit hundreds of thousands of older people.
Experts at Clarke Willmott, which has a dedicated Later Living team, say exploring ways to expand housing options for older generations can only be a good thing.
The firm recently released results of a survey which looked at the perceptions of retirement living developments and found that over 50% of respondents would consider moving to a retirement development before the age of 75, but that there were reservations.
Paul Hinett, a partner and specialist in residential development at Clarke Willmott, said:
“Our findings show that there is an appetite for purpose-built housing for older people but that it doesn’t always completely hit the mark.
There are different types of retirement living schemes including apartments with help on-call and villages with communal facilities like restaurants.
However, we believe there are many more options to suit everyone and to benefit the housing market as a whole – if the older generation have fit-for-purpose housing then it frees up larger family homes for the younger generations.
The launch of this taskforce is an excellent step in coming up with ways to provide people with a good range of options and achieving improvements in housing and care.”
It has been predicted by Age UK that by 2030, one in five of the UK population will be over 65, raising questions about what to do about the aging population.
Clarke Willmott’s survey found that property ownership or part-ownership of a retirement property is by far the strongest preference (67%) rather than rental (33%).
The survey also threw up several discrepancies between male and female perceptions of retirement living.
For women respondents, the number one reason to consider a retirement property was ‘to be part of a like-minded community’ (34%) while for men ‘being close to family’ was the most important factor (40%).
Furthermore, for over 80% of those interested in the idea of living in a retirement development, green credentials are important.
Paul continued:
“The health benefits of retirement living are undisputed with fewer falls, reduced frailty and less need for NHS and GP intervention.
And while many people want to avoid ‘feeling old before their time’ if the right schemes were in place to cater for their specific needs at each point in their later life, then everybody would win.
We hope that this new taskforce will create the framework for this sector to grow and thrive.”
Clarke Willmott has extensive expertise in the later living sector acting for developers, including Retirement Villages, Blue Cedar Homes and LifeStory Group, and advising a range of later living care providers.
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