Action on housing
The UK’s population is rapidly ageing, and the implications – economically, socially and politically – are huge. And one of the biggest of these is where (and how) we house our ever-ageing population, many of whom will have restricted mobility or specific care or support needs.
We believe that the lack of a suitable housing supply in the right locations means that significant opportunities to improve the health and wellbeing of older people… and reduce public expenditure on health and care… are being missed.
Further, the current energy crisis is highlighting the problem that so many elderly people have in keeping their home warm and dry when it is poorly insulated, draughty or subject to damp. The failure to adequately adapt and repair the existing homes of older people represents a huge missed opportunity to improve the health and wellbeing of a large swathe of the population and reduce public expenditure in the process.
In fact, meeting the housing needs of older people would actually represent a national opportunity: the key to better care, fewer (and shorter) hospital stays and a more integrated society. Instead, older people regularly find themselves being criticised for not downsizing, or holding onto the nation’s housing assets.
Blaming older people for the country’s housing crisis is not only discriminatory but also demonstrably untrue: the problem is far more deep-rooted and borne of decades of undersupply against a background of a rising population. Research by WPI Economics and Homes for Later Living estimates that three million older people would like to downsize, yet only about 7,000 new retirement properties are built each year. We hope, with members’ input, to develop a shared policy on housing which we can campaign on. As a starter, The Housing Champions Network, appointed by Care & Repair England, has generated a “manifesto” of the actions which would go a long way towards ensuring older people can live independently as long as possible in homes that are safe, warm, comfortable and accessible.
Get involved
To contribute towards the AAA’s Housing Action policy plans or to see your blogs, papers, research or news on these pages, email: info@theageactionalliance.org
The Age Action Alliance is supported by
Latest News
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New housing partnership to deliver 300+ affordable later living homes
A new partnership between Housing 21 and Churchill Living Partnerships is promising to deliver over 300 homes for older people across England.
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Experiences of racism “continue to scar and disadvantage England’s Black Caribbean people in older age”
A new report from Age UK ‘Ageing while Black: the experiences of older Black Caribbean people in England’. draws on in depth interviews with older Black Caribbean people to understand more about what it’s like to age in our country while Black.
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The power to change lives… by improving electrical safety
Care & Repair Cymru, in partnership with Electrical Safety First, have published a new report exploring the impact that improving electrics can have on the lives of older people in Wales.
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Ageing Better: “Up to 885,000 people deprived of accessible home opportunity due to government delay”
July 29 2025 marks three years since the previous government committed to raising accessibility standards on all new homes in the country, yet have failed to do so. New analysis reveals how many more people could be living in accessible homes, had the government raised the standards as it had promised.
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Extreme summer heat “could lead to more than 5,000 UK deaths this year”
Statistical analysis by The Centre for Ageing Better shows this summer has had more extreme temperatures and more heat health alerts than at the same time in 2022 – a year in which a high number of excess deaths from heat were recorded.
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Dementia, loneliness and overnight security concerns prompting homeshares
The Homeshare Association has published its latest Homeshare Report 2025 which reveals an invaluable insight into the key factors that are steering a growing interest in homeshare arrangements.
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Report reveals health and finance struggles of older private renters in energy-inefficient homes
A new report from the charity Independent Age has revealed the difficult experience of older private renters in cold, energy in-efficient homes and the barriers in making the necessary property improvements.
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One-stop shops for home improvements would end “tragedy of poor quality homes”
New research from Ageing Better and partners identifies a cost-effective solution that could change the lives of up to one million people a year.
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Housing & Ageing Alliance urges Government to implement Housing Taskforce report
The Housing & Ageing Alliance, which includes the Age Action Alliance, has written an open letter to ministers urging them to prioritise urgent implementation of the Older People’s Housing Taskforce recommendations, as these will be crucial enablers for the Government’s national missions and milestones.
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Retirement village “Men’s Club” proves a lifeline
A retirement village in Nottinghamshire has created a new lifeline for men dealing with isolation and has boosted mental health in the form of a men’s only “Lads Group”.
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£2.1m grants fund to help older women from racially minoritised groups
Independent Age has launched its latest grants fund – the Older People’s Fund. The first round will award £2.1 million to organisations that provide support to older women from racially minoritised groups.
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Heatwaves threatening health of up to three million older people
Research from the Centre for Ageing Better shows that older people living in properties between 45 and 80 years old are most likely to experience the worst effects of heatwaves. There were more than 4,500 heat-related deaths estimated to have occurred in England in 2022 with projections indicating that the average number of heat-related deaths…
Latest blogs & comments
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Connecting LGBTQ+ communities through housing
Tonic Housing opened the first LGBTQ+ retirement community in the UK in 2021. Tony Watts OBE asks Bob Green, their Head of Operations, how housing can bring the generations together.
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How can the retirement housing sector achieve its full potential? By adding life to our years.
If the specialist later life housing sector is to play its full part in housing our ageing society, argues Tony Watts OBE, more developers need to focus more on how we age healthily.
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Opening new doors by sharing your home
For those who prefer to remain in their own homes but would welcome company and occasional assistance, sharing one’s home might provide a very workable solution. By Tony Watts OBE.
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Does the housing sector really listen to the voice of older people? And why does it matter?
Tony Watts OBE lead a discussion recently at a Housing LIN’s South West Leadership Set awayday on how to magnify the voices of older people. This is a precis.
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Meet Peggy: the AI concierge working for staff and residents in a later-living community
Vicky Carne, Founder of 3A-AI Ltd, on how a new voice-enabled AI chatbot can keep residents safe and independent.
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How a BBC Documentary sparked a Sign Language Movement in a retirement village
What started as a six-week experiment has become a heart-warming legacy of transformation at ExtraCare Trust’s Hughenden Gardens Retirement Village in High Wycombe. By Charlotte Millions.
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Extra care housing: can design help improve the health and wellbeing of older people?
Josie Dorling, an architect with Poynton Bradbury Architects, looks at how accommodation that is thoughtfully designed to promote social interaction among residents can help to combat loneliness and isolation.
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Why are we waiting?
Procrastination isn’t just the thief of time. It can also be a thief of lives… as well as public money, writes Tony Watts OBE
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Inclusive Design isn’t a luxury. It’s a lifeline
Nearly 50% of social housing households include someone with a long-term health condition. And yet home adaptations are still seen as an afterthought writes Laura Wood Director of Invisible Creations.
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How can we maximise the “wellbeing potential” of retirement living?
Tony Watts OBE recently gave a presentation at LaingBuisson’s Social Care Summit on why later life housing developers need to “futureproof” their schemes by “maximising their wellbeing potential”. Here is an adapted version of that presentation. A common theme in any discussion on retirement housing in the UK is why retirement developments here have not…
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Older people take their demand for a Commissioner to Downing Street
Campaigners have taken their calls for the creation of a Commissioner for Older People and Ageing in England to the heart of Westminster.
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We are all paying the price for the nation’s poor and dangerous housing
Amongst all of the predictable hoo-ha around the PM’s call to end the culture of “sick note” Britain, it might well be forgotten that the poor state of our homes, plus crowded living conditions, is playing a key role in the rising tide of poor health in this country as well as startling levels of…