Need for More Housing Options for Senior Citizens

There is currently a growing ageing population in the UK, which will see a greater proportion of senior citizens to those of a working age in a few years.

The Government are worried of the added pressure on the NHS and care homes, and a lack of people to manage the work.

Need for More Housing Options for Senior Citizens

Most senior citizens have been recommended to move into nursing homes when they begin struggling with taking care of themselves, where they will receive supervision and care from trained professionals.

Despite this, many senior citizens do not want to move into care homes, as they feel that they would be secluded from society. Others have even described nursing homes as depressing and morbid.

This has caused some senior citizens to move into co-housing projects, where they live amongst other people of all ages, and can be involved in the community.

One lady in her seventies explained to The Guardian that living in a co-housing project with younger people kept her “young at heart.”¹

Co-housing is currently quite rare in the UK, although there have been more instances of people moving into a complex together in order to save money. These housing arrangements include sharing certain facilities, such as gardens and laundry rooms.

Senior citizens could benefit from living in this way, and there would be more people around them regularly, who could aid them on a daily basis.

However, these co-housing projects can be very expensive, and therefore would only be possible for a few. Additionally, some senior citizens may not want to live around families with small children, or young professionals, who could be staying up considerably later than they do.

Currently, it is very difficult to find these arrangements in Britain, potentially because landlord insurance would become extremely expensive, and the properties would have to be registered as Houses in Multiple Occupation (HMOs).