Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, what steps her Department plans to take to provide safe and affordable (a) assisted living facilities and (b) other housing options for elderly citizens.

The government has committed to building 1.5 million new homes in this parliament, including housing for older people.

At the Budget on 30 October, the Chancellor set out details of an immediate one-year cash injection of £500 million to top up the existing Affordable Homes Programme which will deliver up to 5,000 new social and affordable homes. This comes ahead of the multi-year Spending Review next spring, where the Government will set out details of new investment to succeed the 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme, including assisted living and housing for older people.

In our recent consultation on proposed reforms to the National Planning Policy Framework, we proposed policy changes to deliver more mixed tenure development including housing designed for specific groups such as older people. The consultation closed on the 24 September and officials in my department are currently analysing responses with a view to publishing a government response before the end of the year.

The government provides funding for the Disabled Facilities Grant, a capital grant administered by local authorities that can help pay the cost of adapting eligible disabled and older people’s homes, regardless of tenure, to allow them to live safely and independently. Local authorities have a statutory duty to provide adaptations for people who satisfy a needs assessment, eligibility criteria and a means test. An additional £86 million for the DFG for 2025-26 was announced in the Budget, bringing the total to £711 million.

The last government appointed an independent Older People’s Housing Taskforce to look at options for the provision of greater choice, quality and security of housing for older people. We intend to provide an update in relation to the Older People’s Housing Taskforce report in due course.