Recommendation 17

HM Government Acknowledged

Achieving the high quality, personalised care and support outlined in People at the Heart of Care, starts in the home where people live. Wherever possible, care and support should be in a person’s own home and personalised in line with their specific needs and the government remains committed to that aim. However, ministers have taken the difficult decision to not progress with the £300 million investment in housing, announced in the white paper, in order to prioritise spending on the reforms we believe are most needed and will have the biggest impact over the next two years. Since the white paper was published, many local places have made significant progress to join up housing, health and care services. By coming together to develop new partnerships and undertaking work to better understand the needs of their local community, many places have produced robust new plans and long-term strategies. This work will be crucial in helping to shape local markets in those places and improve services for residents. We will continue to work with local government partners to support this valuable work and will look to see it replicated more widely across England. As the Next Steps to Put People at the Heart of Care plan sets out, the Older People’s Housing Taskforce will be a new, independently chaired taskforce jointly hosted by DHSC and DLUHC. The taskforce will work collaboratively with housing, health and social care stakeholders to explore ways to improve housing options for older people – whether that is moving into specialist accommodation or remaining in their own home safely. Looking across both private and social sector provision, the taskforce will examine barriers to increasing supply, as well as issues faced by older people when it comes to considering their housing options in later life - and identify means to address these issues. The taskforce Government response 25 will have a particular focus on creating the regulatory and market conditions to unlock private investment in new developments. DHSC and DLUHC are currently working together towards a spring 2023 launch, and we expect the taskforce to complete its work in around 12 months. It will deliver recommendations to ministers on options on how we can provide greater choice, quality and security of housing for older people. To drive work to improve housing options for people with a learning disability and autistic people, the Minister of State for Mental Health and Women’s Health Strategy currently chairs the Building the Right Support Delivery Board. This board brings together representatives from different government departments, including DLUHC, and local systems. Who focus on reducing reliance on mental health inpatient care for people with a learning disability and autistic people by building the right support in the community. The board oversees implementation of the Building the Right Support Action Plan, published in July 2022, which includes commitments from across government and public services, including actions in respect of housing. The government has also committed to consulting on and publishing a new Disability Action Plan during 2023. Leading improvements to housing requires effective joint working between departments, and these links already exist between DHSC and DLUHC. We will continue to work across government and with external stakeholders, including through the structures described above, to support people of all ages to access the housing options that are right for them. Conclusion 24 – housing requirements for local authorities Conclusion 24 - Despite guidance from the Government on planning for housing for older and disabled people, not enough councils are producing plans or conducting sufficiently robust housing needs assessments.