Recommendation 15

The Department also commented that adult social care is another important example of the links and benefits that come from investing in housing, and that it is conducting research to quantify these savings.41 We asked the Department whether the 2021 programme was suitably aligned with wider government decisions on adult social care. The Department told us that the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is now much more involved in the Programme. It is considering how it can work more effectively with the DHSC, for example through DHSC’s Care and Support Specialised Housing Fund. The Department recognised there are challenges over aligning on-going funding for care support services, and that it needs to further its understanding over how to deliver supported homes in London.42 The developer, McCarthy Stone, welcomed the announcement of the older people’s housing taskforce in the Levelling Up White Paper and would like to see 30,000 new specialist homes a year.43