Housing (Built Environment Committee Report)

Lord Best Excerpts

Tuesday 8th November 2022 Lords Chamber

[Lord Best (CB)]

My Lords, I am speaking in the gap, with my apologies for failing to get my name down for this excellent debate last Friday. As a proud member of the committee—and with sincere thanks to our wonderful chair, the noble Baroness, Lady Neville- Rolfe, and our brilliant team, led by Dee Goddard—I will cut to the chase and pull out just one key ingredient from this valuable report: namely, meeting the demand and need for housing for older people.

The need for new homes that reflect the UK’s demographic shift is a prominent theme of our report, with one in four people being over 65 in the near future. Retirement accommodation addresses health and well-being, combats loneliness, reduces fuel poverty and prevents the need for and crippling cost of residential care. An older person right-sizing will so often achieve “two for one” by also bringing an underoccupied family home on to the market. Catering for those requiring more accessible, manageable and energy-efficient accommodation also benefits the overstretched NHS and local care services. Some 16,000 older people in hospital on any given day cannot be discharged because their home simply cannot take them back. While they continue to occupy a hospital bed, others keep waiting.

In a report published last week, Professor Mayhew of the ILC argues for a programme of 50,000 new homes for older people each year—one-sixth of the Government’s overall homes target—but the committee’s report notes that little progress is being made. The current pipeline is for less than 8,000 homes. The volume housebuilders are not interested. Stimulus from planning requirements, and stamp duty incentives—as for first time buyers—are needed. All those involved in this field welcomed the announcement in May 2021 of a governmental older people’s housing task force, with confirmation last February but with little news since then. Can the Minister update us on progress with this key initiative, involving the Ministers for both housing and care?