A slight irony that a young planner writes about an ageing population for the RTPI’s magazine, but young planners are central to creating better places for the future and the diverse needs of older people forms a major part of this.
Here is a copy of the article below to have a gander.
“There is often talk in planning circles about addressing the housing shortage as a numbers issue. Demographic need can run in danger of being secondary to this dialogue, when it is intrinsically linked. We are all living longer, some leading more active and healthy lifestyles into our 80s and beyond, yet the homes we live in are not suitable or diverse enough to meet our needs later in life.
The scale of the problem is highlighted in the 2013 report ‘Top of the Ladder’ by Demos which indicates that just 2% of the UK’s housing stock can meet the needs of older people. The ‘construct’ that a person over 55 is presumed to require the old fashioned form of managed retirement housing is receding, and has to change at a faster pace to meet future needs.
The Government has recently made several policy announcements that may indicate change. In August, the Planning Minister Brandon Lewis said he was keen to see developers build more bungalows (The Telegraph). This could assist older people downsizing from their former home to free them up for families with children. Bungalows were previously thought of as footprint intensive and less profitable than conventional housing. Lifestyle changes and improved layouts mean this disparity has reduced, for instance not everyone over 55 requires a high maintenance garden or an excessive number of bedrooms.
Indications also point in favour of CIL changes, use classes separating retirement housing from conventional dwellings and care homes (Knight Frank 2013), or for Local Plans to require improved lifetime homes standards or proportions of homes for older people. All could be helpful collectively to address the issue.
With more active lifestyles not everyone will necessarily wish to live in potentially car-borne and isolated developments. Increasingly, housing for older people with communal facilities is establishing within or on the edge of our city and town centres. This provides added value to sustainable neighbourhoods and the desired housing choice. Such development also recognises that more people are living alone and renting in the current generation which may inform long term needs for older people. Firms including UKR are pushing forward in this market with its pilot village concept in the Midlands.
Changes are also afoot among key housebuilders. This month Barratt Developments announced it will alter some of its housetypes for the over 55s, while retirement housing provider McCarthy & Stone will target the downsizer with its new Ortus Homes branded developments.
All cases indicate the situation is improving and there is a market for it, but it may require a mixture of policy and legislative incentives to genuinely plan for an ageing population.”
(CJesson, RTPI The Planner Magazine December 2014 p19).
Chrisadvisor 