Along with other Housing Champions colleagues, I’ve been playing a small part in contributing towards the Older People’s Housing Taskforce current call for evidence. For those of us involved in the sector for some time, it’s been a slightly wearing process as the solutions have been obvious for some time: more choice in more locations for new housing, and not just monolithic blocks; consult with older people at the pre-app planning stage; build every new home to accessible standards to allow future generations to age in place; and invest in the adaptations and repairs that will allow older people to remain safe and independent in their own home for longer.
A new report from Ageing Better – today’s lead story – has provided some academic rigour to what older people themselves have been saying for years, so let’s hope the message (finally) gets through.
Elsewhere in this latest round up of of news and knowledge from Age Action Alliance members, we explore some more impacts of social and digital inclusion; find out about a new “toolkit” to eliminate age bias from the recruitment process; celebrate community transport; and there are some worrying findings from a survey amongst over-75s about residential care.
There is also an excellent analysis on why we need to change the “Narrative on Ageing” preventing many older people from fulfilling their potential in society, and the unsurprising news that older people from ethnic minorities have far more chance of living in poverty.
Finally, a reminder that most weekdays I send out a digest of news on later life culled from the world’s media. You can read a recent edition here – do feel free to subscribe to having free copies sent to your mail box! And a list of our current membership can be found here:
I would love to share more of your news and knowledge on the busy and hugely popular website – now a unique resource for later life issues – and in future newsletters. Do drop me a line!
We’d love to do more research work too, on later life employment and housing particularly, and if anyone reading this wants to get involved or to help fund work that could inform their policies and services, please get in touch with me at info@theageactionalliance.org. We would also (warmly!) welcome sponsors for our website and daily newsletters.
Tony Watts OBE, Editor