Question to the Department for Levelling Up, Housing & Communities:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps his Department is taking to incentivise the building of additional supported housing for older people.

This Government is committed to addressing the challenge of our ageing population, and is working to help older people to plan ahead and to provide them with choice over the housing that best meets their needs.

The National Planning Policy Framework requires local planning authorities to plan for the needs of different groups in the community, including older people.

Between 2011 and 2015 almost 14,000 specialised and mainstream housing units for older people were built through the affordable homes programme outside London. Of the allocations so far for 2015 to 2018, a further 6,000 specialised homes are expected to be delivered.

Up to £315 million has been made available through the Care and Support Specialised Housing Fund. £141 million has been allocated for phase 1 of the programme and is on track to deliver around 4,000 new homes for older and disabled people by 2018. Assessment of the bids received for phase 2 is currently underway. It is expected that phase 2 could deliver another 3,000 specialised homes.