Calls for Greater Focus on Care Housing

Residential housing with flexible care provisions (extra care) can have a major impact in promoting residents’ quality of life and reducing feelings of loneliness and isolation, according to a new report from the International Longevity Centre-UK (ILC-UK).

The report found that village living can promote greater independence and provide greater choice in planning for later life than would otherwise be available. The researchers claim that the communal environment has the potential to reduce social isolation, particularly for residents who move from more rural or remote homes.

The average person in a retirement village experiences half the amount of loneliness (12.17%) than those in the community (22.83%). Nearly two thirds of respondents living in retirement villages (64.2%) could be classified as not at all lonely, and over four out of five (81.7%) said they hardly ever or never felt isolated. Over half (54.7%) often felt in tune with those around them, and nearly four in five (79.1%) hardly ever or never felt left out.

The UK is faced with an ageing population which, the ILC-UK warns, is going to become increasingly difficult to support. It is projected that in 20 years’ time, the number of people aged 85 and over will be almost two and a half times larger than in 2010.

The research calls on the Government to:

• Identify ways of working with the private sector to stimulate the building of new good quality retirement housing.
• Encourage people in early older age to consider making such a move.
• In light of the new pensions freedoms, consider offering information and advice on such housing opportunities to people who make enquiries into how to manage their retirement finances.

“This research helps confirm that good housing is good for us,” commented Baroness Sally Greengross, Chief Executive of ILC-UK. “Communal living commonly found in extra care and retirement villages seems to positive impact on loneliness, with very few respondents to our research saying they felt a high degree of loneliness or isolation. New and innovative models for providing social care are crucial to address rising costs for care in an aging society.”

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