Hanover Insights': 'Is there a future for Retirement Housing?'

Local authorities have been challenged to back affordable 21^st century retirement housing – and free up family homes into the bargain.

Leading provider Hanover is calling on local authorities to support its bids for Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) funding, and consider sales of council-owned land, as the housing association embarks on the first social retirement housing development drive for over a decade.

Research launched today by Hanover, undertaken by the University of York, indicates that the bold move will pay off if the ‘offer’ remains right.  ‘Recent movers’ to retirement housing were motivated by a variety of reasons.  These include:

• The need for flexible access to support
• Seeking a more fulfilling social life
• Wanting to downsize (mainly for financial reasons)

Other Hanover research shows that would-be residents were often deterred by a perceived lack of control over services and costs, as well as small, outdated properties. Addressing these issues could see an increased boost in interest from older people now, and the ‘baby boomer’ generation.

Hometrack and Elderly Accommodation Counsel data also indicates that retirement housing provision is still very low in some areas with many older people.

The research is published only weeks after the HCA-sponsored HAPPI group urged a fresh look at housing for older people if future needs and aspirations are to be met. 

Speaking at the opening of Hanover’s 59^th Extra Care project, at Scunthorpe, Hanover’s  Chair Lord Best, said: “York’s research confirms what we strongly believe: ‘if we build it, they will come’.  Now we’re saying to local authorities: ‘help us build it’.”  

In formally opening Ashby Meadows, Dame Margaret Eaton, Chair of the Local Government Association, said: “Local authorities across the country are doing a vital job in providing for our older people. In partnership with specialist providers like Hanover, councils can meet housing requirements and ensure support reaches those who need it most.”

Karen Croucher, University of York, added:  “Our work underlines the fact that retirement housing for rent and sale is as relevant now as it has ever been. In fact, given the demographic changes of the coming decades, retirement housing will have an increasingly important role to play in supporting people’s  independence and wellbeing in later life.”

Ends

To access a pdf of this report please click here

To access a full copy of the press release please click here

Notes to Editors:

Hanover intends to build 1,000 new retirement homes for sale, rent and shared ownership in the next few years.  The HCA has given in-principle approval to this project, subject to individual local authorities agreeing there is a need in that area. Hanover is actively pursuing 20 sites at this time.

Hanover commissioned the following research in late 2009:

• Karen Croucher, Senior Research Fellow at the University of York, undertook detailed focus groups with ‘recent movers’ to Hanover i.e. those who had moved to either rented or leasehold accommodation in the last 3 months.
• Hometrack, an independent data collection agency, identified locations where there is demand for new retirement housing by overlaying current supply with those over the age of 73 years. This has informed Hanover’s new sites search.

Hanover also:

• Surveyed recent applicants who were sometimes deterred by:
• Small and poor-quality accommodation
• fear of being branded ‘old’
• A perceived lack of control over services and costs.
• Commissioned Visionpoint to undertake desktop research into the main housing design and service requirements of older people.  This has informed Hanover’s design specification.

Established in 1963, Hanover is dedicated to providing choice and independence for older people and is one of the largest specialist providers of retirement housing and related support services for older people in England.

The Hanover Group manages nearly 19,000 retirement and Extra Care properties across England.

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Hanover Insights': Insight into resident engagement and consultation

'My Home My Say' 

A new report launched by Hanover, on best practice for resident engagement and consultation states that traditional tenant engagement methods allow only the most committed residents to become involved in the decision making process.

Until 2006 Hanover’s primary method of engagement with residents was through regional forums. However, travelling to meetings and public speaking often deterred less confident residents and those with mobility issues from taking part.

Hanover has established a range of methods to involve residents which include:

Local Service Level agreements sets out the level of service provided by the locally based Manager in each scheme, as well as the emergency 24 hour alarm service (Hanover On Call), and service contracts that cover cleaning, gardening and local repairs. Residents are consulted every year on the standard of work each contractor carries out, and the specifications are displayed.

Hanover is one of the first organisations to begin the implementation of a new housing repairs consultation process called Hanover Quality Standard. This allows residents decision making in the work and cost which is undertaken on their development.

Greenshoots is an initiative which encourages residents to club together and “bid” for funds for a community project. There must be a majority of residents in agreement to show that the project has global support. Residents must be able to raise 20 per cent of the cost themselves. Hanover can then give the other 80 per cent of funding to allow residents to implement ideas that benefit all. This initiative gives residents the opportunity to independently change their scheme for the better.

The intouch panel was set up in 2007 as an opportunity for residents to make suggestions about Hanover services. It serves as a sounding board for new initiatives, and gives members the choice of how they are involved. This can be through face to face interviews, by telephone, email, postal surveys and workshops or conferences.

In October 2008 Hanover held a series of events across the country, with the aim of bringing together staff and residents to hear their views. Locations were chosen that allowed the maximum attendance by reducing travel as much as possible. A total of 1,250 people attended Stronger Together Events and gave their views and opinions on key issues.

Resident Council aims to reflect the views of the whole of the Hanover Group and include tenants and home owners from Extra Care Schemes, as well as from retirement housing in different regions of the country. The Council has the responsibility of challenging Hanover and ensuring residents are involved in the decision making process. The group meets regularly with Hanover’s Group Management Team.

Residents at every Hanover development have the opportunity to elect a representative to attend regional forums and reflect the views of residents on proposed direction and investment priorities. Resident Forums are meetings held four times a year in each of Hanover’s five regions.

Hanover have two residents on the Hanover Group Board who champion resident perspective ensuring that residents’ views are accounted for in making strategic decisions.

These methods have recently been cited on the National Housing Federation (NHF) website as an example of best practice in the areas of “Engagement, Consultation and Achieving Excellence Together” in the code of service delivery and accountability”.

Ends

To access a pdf of this report please click here

To access a copy of the press release please click here

Notes To Editors:

• Established in 1963 Hanover is one of the largest specialist providers of retirement housing and related support services for older people in England. The Hanover Group manages nearly 19,000 retirement and Extra Care properties, which are available for rent or purchase on more than 600 estates including 4000 on behalf of other organisations.
• Hanover is also the innovator of Extra Care Housing with estates in 52 locations. The group employs a dedicated workforce of nearly 1,000 individuals who provide over 30,000 residents and customers with a highly professional and personalised service.
• Hanover provides support services for residents and others including a home improvement agency which helps more than 5,000 people each year and an alarm monitoring service (Hanover on Call) which provides support to Hanover Residents and nine external organisations.
• The Hanover Group consists of Hanover Housing Association, Hanover Property Management Ltd and Hanover in Hackney.
• The corporate headquarters is based in Staines, with offices in London, Chippenham, St Neots and Shipley. The Hanover board is chaired by Lord Richard Best and Bruce Moore is the chief executive.

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Hanover Insights’: Retirement Housing frees up Family Homes

‘Unlocking Britain’s empty rooms’

Mortgage lenders are cutting back on the numbers of home loans, developers are putting the brakes on new projects and ‘letting go’ of their workforce, yet the need for more housing has not gone away. Hanover, an established housing association commissioned the University of York’s Centre for Housing Policy to conduct research to understand where Hanover’s new residents were moving from and why.   The research findings suggest that retirement housing may hold the key to providing more homes.

A key finding was that 36% of residents had formerly occupied property with three or more bedrooms.   The research also showed that 47% of previous owner occupiers were taking their equity out of the housing market and moving into rented retirement accommodation.   The potential implications of these findings are immense, especially for people who are desperate to own their own home or need more space.

  “We felt it was important to publish these research findings; we’ve launched Hanover Insights reports as a way to share our expertise in retirement housing. We have a large pool of residents who are willing to tell us what they think and feel about retirement living.  Our residents are an invaluable source of information and our research insights help us to provide a better quality service,” said Bruce Moore Hanover’s Chief Executive.

“The national demographics tell us there are increasing numbers of older people often living alone and there is also a huge backlog of families who are desperate for family housing with three or more bedrooms and gardens.   We believe that affordable retirement housing can provide the security, sense of community and, if needed, support, for a proportion of older people who are currently living alone in larger properties they can no longer manage”.

 “Affordable retirement property provides a practical and cost effective solution for older people whether they want to rent and buy their homes,” he continued, “the challenge is to provide more and better retirement housing, ideally with 2 bedrooms, for sale as well as for rent.  By doing this retirement housing will provide older people with the type of housing they want as well as releasing family homes that are currently under occupied.”

*Data compiled by postal survey of 2000 households, drawn from approximately 5000 households who had become Hanover residents since January 2005.

Notes for Editors: