We welcome the Chancellor’s decision to raise the state pension by £5.35 in Tuesday’s Autumn statement. The soaring cost of living, combined with low interest rates and poor returns on savings has hit pensioners hard in the past 18 months. This move goes some way to alleviating their struggles in the current difficult economic climate. However, there is not such good news for the elderly in terms of housing. Whilst today’s announcements included a mortgage indemnity scheme to help up to 100,000 people buy homes with 5% deposit, a £400m scheme to kick-start stalled construction projects in England and 50% discount for social tenants wanting to buy their own homes – strikingly the majority of these plans are aimed in the main at helping first time buyers get onto the property ladder rather than older people at the other end of the market. Many elderly people no longer desire homeownership. They want to downsize and there is an acute shortage of appropriate retirement housing in the UK to buy or rent so why are no provisions being made for these people?
Eight million people currently live in under-occupied homes and many are older people. What’s more, this number has increased by 45% since 2003 because people are living longer and there aren’t enough suitable alternative homes available. Arguably, if a greater number of retirement properties were built and the government incentivised people to move into them, many of these ‘family homes’ would become available.
Missing from the Autumn statement is joined up thinking on housing. A review of the number of empty and under-occupied properties and a strategy of providing quality retirement homes is needed urgently.
