Later living needs diverse outlook
Partner and Head of Later Living, Amy France, spoke to Property Week about the importance of having a diverse outlook when it comes to later living to ensure older people remain part of thriving, integrated communities.
One of the most encouraging outcomes from the report from the Older People’s Housing Taskforce is the recognition that older people are not a homogeneous group.
The report notes that, as with any generation, older people deserve a diverse housing market to meet their varying needs and characteristics.
The government increasingly wants to offer an ‘age in place’ option for people and to ensure that new provision is needs based, so an essential starting point for later-living providers should be to look at the local demographics of their sites. This will help decision-makers and designers to establish whether adaptations to take into account factors such as faith and culture are necessary.
As the UK now looks to implement the taskforce’s vision, we only have a handful of specialist locations and demographically adapted later-living options to reference, such as care homes that cater to the specific needs of ethnic minorities or retirement communities serving the LGBTQ+ community. By looking to serve certain groups of the older population and really understand their particular needs and requirements, these housing options can be transformative for those living in them.
Published on 30 July, read the full article in Property Week here.
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