Majority of household growth to 2043 expected to come from over 65s, says Age UK

Age UK has predicted that households headed by someone over the age of 65 will account for 84% of all household growth between 2018 and  2043 in a new report.

Titled “Late Movers”, the report revealed that the majority of older people will age in mainstream homes and highlights several concerns about the affordability, accessibility and quality of housing available for people as they age.

The charity has called on the government to address the “chronic” shortage of suitable homes available for older people in its housing strategy.

It warned that the lack of accessible and adapted housing will not help those in later life to age well, which “increases pressure on social care, the NHS and government finances.”

Age UK has called for older people’s housing policy to be a “central consideration” in the roll out of the NHS 10 Year Plan and in the deliberations of the Casey Commission focusing on reforming adult social care in the UK.

It has described real life scenarios from older people struggling with aspects of their housing, including a lady living in a seventh floor flat, where the building’s lift only goes to the fifth floor. She only goes out to the hospital, with the help of ambulance workers carrying her downstairs.

Caroline Abrahams, charity director at Age UK said: “Our priority should be to ensure that mainstream housing is suitable for an ageing population and that the new mainstream homes being built under the government’s ambitious plans can flex to meet the needs of people as they age, especially the significant numbers who choose to relocate in the 50 to 75 age group, many of whom will not move again.”

Abrahams added that although the state’s financial help with aids and adaptations has increased in recent years, the sector should be getting more value from the money being invested.

She said that delays in the system mean older people wait “far too long” for home adaptations, such as accessible showers, to “enable them to stay living decently in their own homes.”

In November 2024, the Older People’s Housing Taskforce called for a cross-departmental unit to lead national older people’s housing strategy. The taskforce was set up by the Conservative administration to look at tackling barriers to delivering later living homes.

The current government has yet to announce its response to the taskforce report.