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Cardiff Council

www.cardiff.gov.uk

Older Persons' Housing Needs

By 2037 the number of people aged 65 to 84 will increase by 42% while those over aged 85 will nearly double. 
 

The number of people in Cardiff with dementia is estimated to increase by 67% for those aged 65+ and by 85% for those aged 85+ over the period 2015 to 2035. This together with more cases of age-related health conditions and mobility issues will put pressures on Social Care services and budgets.

Research findings show the benefits of suitable older persons’ housing in supporting independence and reducing need for residential care, with associated savings to Health and Social Care budgets.

The cost of Extra Care housing is on average 57% of the weekly cost of residential care.

We need to maximise the preventative benefits of housing and maximise use of specialist accommodation to make more effective use of the resources available.




There is limited extra care housing outside the north and west of the city.

There is an estimated additional need for 3,051 units of older person’s accommodation by 2035. This increase is broken down as follows: 

- Older Persons’ housing – 1787 units (353 rental, 1434 ownership) 

- Housing with care – 609 units (232 rental, 377 ownership) 

- Nursing care – 655 beds 

We are uncertain about the condition of current older persons’ housing in the social sector and the facilities offered, we need to understand how well these properties can meet the future needs of the older population.

28% of older people surveyed were planning a move within the next 5 years, most wanted a 2 bedroom property, (58%). Specialist older persons’ accommodation was more popular among those who were renting than those who owned their own home.


A range of schemes for building new older person/care ready affordable homes are already planned and these will deliver 741 new homes by 2030 of which 434 will be Council homes, 207 Registered Social Landlord homes and 100 homes for older people to buy. ​

If all schemes go ahead this will exceed the estimated additional need for rented accommodation of 585 units. However, it is unlikely that all existing older persons’ accommodation will meet future requirements and we may need to stop using some of it. Therefore, we will continue to look for ways to improve future housing.

The new version of Planning Policy Wales is far clearer in the role planning should play in promoting older persons’ housing and requires us to set specific targets for older persons’ housing and to work with developers to achieve this.

We will need to focus on advertising private older persons’ housing if the estimated additional 1811 ‘for sale’ homes are to be delivered.​
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