Hidden in the conclusions of the December 2020 Household Resilience Study (a Covid-specific follow-up to the English Housing Survey) was the striking statistic that 39% of households are under-occupied in that they have two or more spare bedrooms.

It is easy to leap to the assumption, as indeed Sam Stafford admits to in this episode, that these households are elderly people, perhaps single elderly people, rattling around in family homes that they cannot bear to leave. From there it is also easy to assume that by encouraging people to downsize better use can be made of the existing housing stock.

Why wouldn’t somebody want to move to a more manageable property or to a more sociable retirement community? It’s easy to paint a mental picture of ‘housing for older people’ without thinking too much more about it. Indeed, as Sam also admits, ‘housing for older people’ was the working title for this episode.

This episode is about challenging those, and other, assumptions and preconceptions. Is the UK actually unique amongst our Western friends in not having a culture of downsizing? If we should is that for the state or the market to foster? Why is the development community not responding to an aging population with more bespoke accommodation and, if more could be encouraged, what should it look like and where should it be?

Sam puts these questions to Silvia Gullino, Associate Professor in City Making at Birmingham City University; Graham Marshall, Director at ProSocial Place and Honorary Senior Fellow at Liverpool University; Rhiannon Corcoran, Professor of Psychology and Public Mental Health at Liverpool University; and Shannon Conway, Residential Director at Glenbrook Property.

Twitter handles:

• @SilviaGullino
• @BCU_Planning
• @prosocialplace
• @rhiannoncor
• @PlaceWellbeing
• @ShannonConway99
• Glenbrookprop

Some accompanying reading.

Housing for older people - a report from the CLG Committee

https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmcomloc/370/370.pdf

Homes for healthy ageing: Understanding the challenges - A Catapult Future of Housing blog

https://cp.catapult.org.uk/news/housing-the-elderly-understanding-the-challenges/

Last Time Buyers - a report from L&G

https://www.legalandgeneralgroup.com/assets/portal/files/pdf_175.pdf

Rightsizing: Reframing the housing offer for older people - a report based on research undertaken by PHASE at Manchester School of Architecture 

https://www.msa.ac.uk/media/msaacuk/documents/research/Rightsizing_MSA.pdf

Guild Living wins planning appeal after ‘ageism’ row - Housing Today

https://www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/guild-living-wins-planning-appeal-after-ageism-row/5112492.article

The ten key design criteria that make up the HAPPI principles from the Housing Learning and Improvement Network

https://www.housinglin.org.uk/Topics/browse/Design-building/HAPPI/

Some accompanying viewing

The Sopranos - ‘Green Grove is a retirement community...’

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1KfNAtgGM4

Some accompanying listening

Older by Band of Horses

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAdIYUI21s8

50 Shades T-Shirts!

If you have listened to Episode 45 of the 50 Shades of Planning Podcast you will have heard Clive Betts say that...

'In the Netherlands planning is seen as part of the solution. In the UK, too often, planning is seen as part of the problem'.

Sam said in reply that that would look good on a t-shirt and it does. Further details can be found here: http://samuelstafford.blogspot.com/2021/07/50-shades-of-planning-t-shirts.html