Home sweet home? The gap between housing supply and demand for an ageing population

Recent UK research has highlighted the very real crisis in housing. The dearth of available, affordable housing reflects a decline in investment from both the private and public sector. The gap between the supply and demand for all housing will be a quarter of a million homes in the next four years, with demand outstripping supply in the light of population ageing and migration. This imbalance between supply and demand can be explained by under occupation of existing housing stock. The 50-64 age group makes up the largest number of under-occupied houses, whilst of the 65-79 age group, this represents 9 in 10, of whom 50% live in houses with at least two excess bedrooms. The ‘ageing in place’ discourse and shift to ‘care in the community’ have made it both the right and duty of older adults to remain in their own homes later in life as a means to promote wellbeing and reduce care costs. Even if the case was made that older adults should move to smaller accommodation and free up their under-occupied homes, there is again a question of supply- this time of appropriate housing