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Elevating Housing Solutions for the Elderly: Your Expertise is Key

Nury Moreira

The UK government departments for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) and the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), has launched the "Older People's Housing Taskforce." This initiative is designed to amplify the housing choices, quality, and security available to our ageing populace.  Led by Professor Emerita of Nursing, Julienne Meyer, the taskforce will primarily concentrate on specialised and supported housing solutions, specially tailored for middle-income elderly individuals while excluding care homes.  They have initiated the "Older People's Housing Taskforce - Call for Evidence" consultation in line with this.  Over the next 12 months, the taskforce will probe into this sector's challenges, facilitators, and prospective expansion areas, aiming to produce an independent report.  As members of the global engineering community, your expertise, innovative solutions, case studies and feedback are pivotal in guiding this call for expertise.

 

We have always championed the cause of harnessing technology and innovation to create a better society. Our reports on "Smart Homes for Healthier Ageing," "Decarbonising the Built Environment," "The Apollo Protocol," and "Digitisation for construction product manufacturers" are exemplars to our commitment in these areas.

 

Smart Homes for Healthier Ageing

The IET has always been at the forefront of technological advancements, ensuring that innovations are harnessed for the betterment of society. Our recent report, "Smart Homes for Healthier Ageing," is a testament to this commitment. It underscores engineers and technologists' pivotal role in promoting healthy ageing, emphasising the need for cross-sectoral collaboration to develop solutions that enhance well-being and quality of life as we age.

 

Decarbonising the Built Environment

Drawing from our extensive research and expertise in the built environment, we've also produced significant reports such as "Decarbonising the Built Environment." This report highlights the urgency of removing carbon from our current and future building stock, a crucial step towards achieving the UK's net-zero carbon economy by 2050. Carbon is not just an atmospheric concern; it's embedded in our buildings, from the materials we use to the energy consumed over a building's lifecycle. Addressing this requires innovative engineering solutions, market demand, and a shift in public perception.

 

The Apollo Protocol: unifying digital twins across sectors

Another noteworthy contribution is "The Apollo Protocol: unifying digital twins across sectors." This document advocates for a cross-sectoral framework aiming to harness the benefits of digital twins in both the manufacturing and built environment sectors. The Apollo Forum, as proposed, will be instrumental in formalising communication between these sectors, ensuring that digital twins developed in isolation today can seamlessly integrate tomorrow.

 

Digitisation for construction product manufacturers

Furthermore, our guide on "Digitisation for construction product manufacturers" offers a plain language insight into how manufacturers can structure and share data safely and sustainably. In an era where data is the new oil, ensuring its structured, consistent, and safe dissemination is paramount, especially in the construction industry.

 

Now, we seek your insights to enrich this dialogue further. And I would like to suggest those that have the expertise to delve into the consultation and address the key questions:

 

People

  • What are the most important issues the taskforce should seek to address regarding the needs and preferences of the ageing population?
  • Do you have specific recommendations for the taskforce to consider in this context?

Products

  • In terms of housing products and technologies, what are the primary concerns the taskforce should address?
  • Do you have innovative solutions or recommendations for the taskforce in this domain?

Places

  • How can we ensure that the local environments and communities are designed to support healthy ageing?
  • What specific recommendations would you suggest for the taskforce in this regard?

 

As part of the engineering community, our insights, innovative perspectives, and technical expertise can significantly shape the future of housing solutions for the ageing population. I would once again like to encourage everyone who can contribute to participating in the "Older People's Housing Taskforce - Call for Evidence" consultation. Together, we can help create housing policies and frameworks that are inclusive, sustainable, and truly beneficial for our elderly community. If you prefer, you may also share your responses privately with me at nmoreira@theiet.org.

 

Now, more than ever, your voice matters. Let's ensure it resonates in the corridors of healthy housing and urban development policymaking for a more inclusive future for our ageing population.

Parents

  • They are defining “older people” as fifty five and over, so the housing is available to people from the age of fifty five to over a hundred years of age.  www.gov.uk/.../taskforce-to-transform-older-peoples-housing-underway

    So, this is multi-generational housing, I moved my father into Housing Association sheltered flats after my mother died and there was someone living in the same corridor as their parents. In theory you could have three generations of the same family living in the same buildings, when I was working doing electrical and building maintenance for a Housing Association contractor there were three generations living in the same building in different flats as well as the extended family, aunts, uncles and cousins.

    So the age range of the tenants could be fifty tears or more, as I saw in the flats where my father lived.

    Also, anyone who is fifty five now can be expecting to work until their state pension age of sixty seven in 2035, being twelve years off their state pension age.  www.gov.uk/state-pension-age
    So again,  there can and will be people living in sheltered retirement housing who will get up and go to work daily, as I saw in the Housing Association flats where my father lived. 

    The advantage of having these younger working people about is they should be able to assist those neighbours who are less able, but they may not be prepared to do so, however they may not be able to attend coffee mornings and participate in other communal events, assuming that they are still being organised now that funding is not available for tenants in receipt of housing benefits to cover them.

    Housing benefits being another issue, the Housing Associations have withdrawn communal facilities and staff who supported tenants, because those claiming payments pay their rent only get that, the benefit payments no longer cover the additional charge for communal facilities and support staff, so there’s no longer anyone on site to respond to the emergency call alarms or investigate why the fire alarm is going off, the call centre phone family members like me instead when I am at work, possibly many miles away resulting in a call-out for the ambulance or fire brigade crews, tying up the emergency services doing social work.

Reply

  • They are defining “older people” as fifty five and over, so the housing is available to people from the age of fifty five to over a hundred years of age.  www.gov.uk/.../taskforce-to-transform-older-peoples-housing-underway

    So, this is multi-generational housing, I moved my father into Housing Association sheltered flats after my mother died and there was someone living in the same corridor as their parents. In theory you could have three generations of the same family living in the same buildings, when I was working doing electrical and building maintenance for a Housing Association contractor there were three generations living in the same building in different flats as well as the extended family, aunts, uncles and cousins.

    So the age range of the tenants could be fifty tears or more, as I saw in the flats where my father lived.

    Also, anyone who is fifty five now can be expecting to work until their state pension age of sixty seven in 2035, being twelve years off their state pension age.  www.gov.uk/state-pension-age
    So again,  there can and will be people living in sheltered retirement housing who will get up and go to work daily, as I saw in the Housing Association flats where my father lived. 

    The advantage of having these younger working people about is they should be able to assist those neighbours who are less able, but they may not be prepared to do so, however they may not be able to attend coffee mornings and participate in other communal events, assuming that they are still being organised now that funding is not available for tenants in receipt of housing benefits to cover them.

    Housing benefits being another issue, the Housing Associations have withdrawn communal facilities and staff who supported tenants, because those claiming payments pay their rent only get that, the benefit payments no longer cover the additional charge for communal facilities and support staff, so there’s no longer anyone on site to respond to the emergency call alarms or investigate why the fire alarm is going off, the call centre phone family members like me instead when I am at work, possibly many miles away resulting in a call-out for the ambulance or fire brigade crews, tying up the emergency services doing social work.

Children
  • in reply to Sparkingchip

    To clarify, in the flats where my father lived there were tenants as young as fifty  five and over one hundred years of age.

    Their lifestyles varied tremendously. 

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