This is a CPD event organised by the RTPI East Midlands Young Planners Committee and will be delivered by DLP and No. 5 Barristers.
DLP Planning specialise in research relating to older persons housing needs and have worked with a number of partners who deliver specialist housing, to demonstrate the need and benefits of planning to meet the needs of our aging population.
The provision of specialist housing for older people has now become a pressing issue for the planning system, with government policy seeing the need for such housing to be of critical importance. The ageing population is and will continue to change demand for housing. In particular, it is likely that more adaptable and specialised housing will be needed moving forward.
Planning properly to meet the needs of older people, by providing the right type and tenure of specialist housing, in the right places, has multiple social and economic benefits including;
- Improved quality of life for older people;
- Savings to the NHS and Primary Care Trusts;
- Supporting sustainable communities;
- Reducing fuel poverty; and
- Stimulating the wider housing market by freeing up family housing.
Despite the evident benefits and continued development of specialist housing for older people, the level of provision of specialist accommodation for older persons has actually fallen since 1991.
Accordingly, there is an urgent need and opportunity to improve the way in which we plan to meet the housing needs of older persons, including recognising the need to reflect specialist housing needs in plan making and decision taking.
