Councils have always wanted their residents to live in safe, affordable, good quality homes locally in their communities. COVID-19 has further shown the centrality of housing as a key component of health and care and the foundation upon which people can achieve a positive quality of life. The impact of poor housing on health is like that of smoking or alcohol and costs the NHS at least £1.4 billion a year, as well as increasing demand for social care.
Affordable, suitably designed and accessible homes in the right places, with supporting infrastructure, can extend independent and safe living for older people and working age disabled people and/or other long-term health needs.
It can also help to reduce demand on social care and health services by supporting greater levels of independence in the community, preventing admissions to residential care and hospital and aiding discharges. For people in vulnerable circumstances, a safe home with personalised support to address practical and care needs, can help people to regain their independence.
Supported housing
Given the increasing number of older people and working age adults with disabilities, demand for supported housing will continue to increase. The number of working-age adults and older people with a learning disability is estimated to reach 1.1 million by 2025, an increase of nearly 30,000 people since 2020. Furthermore, an estimated 60,000 more adults are predicted to have a common mental disorder by 2025.
To give potential investors the certainty to invest in much-needed supply sufficient and sustainable revenue funding is needed alongside access to capital funding.
We are calling on the Government to support continued access to capital funding, including through the Care and Support Specialised Housing (CASSH) fund and to ensure local government is able to fully fund the ongoing revenue costs of care and support for people living in supported housing.
Extra care housing
There is a shortage of extra care housing. In the UK, there are around 74,000 housing with care units, which represents around 16 per cent of the total housing stock for older people. We build around 8,000 housing with care units a year. Over the next decade a fivefold increase in the delivery rate of housing with care is needed to keep pace with the ageing population.
In addition to delivering much better outcomes for people who want to live in this type of housing, the financial business case for investment in building more older people’s extra care housing is also compelling for councils, the NHS and the wider public purse. For example, every additional extra care apartment on average saves social care £2,400 per year as well as saving money for the NHS and improving lives.
We would like to work with the Government to unlock the potential of a significant expansion in extra care housing across all tenures, including capital funding through a new 3-year Homes England strategic partnership. Combined with social care reform and more focus on older people’s housing in NHS prevention and integration, an integrated strategy could deliver significant health, wellbeing and economic benefits for older people who wish to live in extra care housing.
Adapting the existing housing stock
Timely home adaptations support older people and disabled people, their families and carers to manage wellbeing in the home, extending safe and independent living. Improving the accessibility of existing housing is a priority because over 80 per cent of the homes we will be living in by 2050 are already built. 72 per cent of existing homes could be adapted to meet the four features of ‘visitable’ accessibility for people with a disability or accessibility needs. Public Health England estimate a social return on investment in adaptations of £7.23 for every £1 spent.
The Disabled Facilities Grant (DFG) funds adapting existing stock in the private and rental sectors. It is allocated via the Better Care Fund Policy Framework and requires close working between housing authorities and social care authorities in two-tier areas. Government funding for the DFG has more than doubled, from £220 million in 2013/14 to over £500 million in 2020/21. In December 2018, a government commissioned independent review recommended simplifying the DFG process.
Given earlier points about the increasing number of older people and working age adults with disabilities, demand for DFG will continue to increase.
Councils are ambitious about upgrading existing housing and give people timely advice and access to funding where needed to adapt and repair their homes but the Government needs to continue to provide Disabled Facilities Grant funding, linked to demand increases from working age adults with disabilities to enable councils to expand this work. We also would like to work together with Government and other stakeholders, like landlords and housebuilders, on ways to make it easier for the increasing number of people living in the private sector to access adaptation grants.