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Two old people watching television with glasses of wine.
Living independently can improve older people’s happiness and sense of wellbeing. Photograph: Norbert Schaefer/CORBIS
Living independently can improve older people’s happiness and sense of wellbeing. Photograph: Norbert Schaefer/CORBIS

Five ways housing professionals can help older people stay independent

This article is more than 8 years old

We know that people who remain independent longer are healthier and happier. Here are some tips on building more supportive homes

All of us want to stay in our own homes as long as we can as we get older. It’s good for us – and it saves on the cost of residential care.

But how can we create homes that enable people to live independently while remaining safe and supported? Here are five tips for creating better supported housing:

Build individual homes with communal facilities

The best of both worlds is creating a community in which older people can thrive. They can walk through their own front door and make their own decisions but they and their families have the comfort of knowing they are safe.

Provide onsite care

Many older people do not have high care needs, but having onsite care provides a safety net, especially for those who need a bit more support.

We’ve started to move away from dementia wings in our extra care schemes because our research showed those with the condition fare better when they live in a community with others who don’t have it. The stimulation of being part of a more diverse community and the support networks that emerge are far better for their wellbeing.

Get clued up on dementia

One million people will have dementia by 2025. Housing providers need to cater for this – and this means going well beyond token gestures like building dementia-friendly gardens.

Gather data and develop a better understanding of the needs of people living with dementia. Think about the design, the build and the recruitment and training of care staff. Commission your own research and constantly gather evidence to inform the approach you take.

Train as many of your staff as possible to help them deal with people living with dementia and take advantage of some of the great schemes that are already out there, like the Alzheimer’s Society’s dementia friends initiative.

Don’t go it alone

Creating homes for older people brings the need for partnership work into sharp focus. That means working with commissioners, local authorities and funding bodies, but also, of course, involving community ventures, charities, health bodies and residents’ carers and families.

Like many new schemes for older people, ours include communal facilities like restaurants and shops. Too often, these facilities tend to be planned around some vague idea of what you think residents will need. But you need to work with everyone to establish where there is genuine need. Take advantage of existing community ventures and other local voluntary groups and ask them to help run shops, groups and events at your schemes they are often very keen to be involved.

Innovate, but don’t get carried away

Providing affordable housing for older people that goes beyond residential care is still relatively new, so in many ways everything we are doing is already innovative. Having a single, blueprint approach is doomed to fail. And while it is good practice to look at pioneering new technologies if these can make a difference, , there is no point innovating for innovation’s sake.

Don’t be short-sighted and focus on technological developments or fads or you’ll start to hit all kinds of snags at the expense of getting the basics, like the build and tenure mix, wrong.

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