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Appropriate housing for the growing population of older adults is becoming an international concern. The purpose of this paper is to report on a review of UK and international literature carried out as part of a project exploring the commissioning and delivery of social care in housing with care settings. The paper also considers housing with care in the context of UK policy and practice.

The peer literature review process used a range of academic databases as well as government and third sector web sites, drawing on relevant material in English published from 1990 to 2012.

Findings are presented within three main themes: how care and support is provided; the role of the built environment; and the benefits for resident well-being. The review found a paucity of literature focusing specifically on care and support in housing with care settings, particularly in terms of how social care is delivered, but the evidence base suggests that housing with care is in a strong position to deliver on most if not all UK government aspirations.

Despite a growing literature both in the UK and internationally exploring the characteristics and benefits of housing with care for older people, substantial gaps remain in the research evidence.

This paper presents an up to date review of the housing with care literature in the context of current UK policy.

The Government has put emphasis on preventing inappropriate admissions to hospital and long‐term care and helping people to live at home. The National Service Framework for Older People focuses on promoting older people's independence and fitting services around people's needs. In this climate Housing with Care is presented as an attractive alternative to residential care, mainly for older people. Such schemes maintain people in complexes of purpose‐built flats in the community with care and support on site 24 hours a day. This article looks at the experience of Norfolk County Council in providing Housing with Care for older people.

Adopting a welfare stance, this paper considers whether the neoliberalist approach which has been adopted by successive UK and Scottish governments will achieve optimal societal outcomes or lead to the under provision of senior housing.

Data collection centred on informed multi-stakeholder groups that have significant experience working in the retirement and senior housing sector. Core techniques included desk-based study of secondary academic, consultancy and policy documents. Primary data collection techniques involved primary participation of three Scottish taskforce meetings and interviews with key stakeholders from across the sector.

The paper concludes that without direct government intervention in the market, the welfare ambition to provide adequate housing for an ageing population will not materialise with significant shortfalls in appropriate stock predicted. To prevent this scenario developing, increased public and private sector interaction is essential.

The research follows the growing concern to provide research that has “real world” relevance. The paper conducts a detailed analysis of the Scottish government's housing strategy and reports on the findings of interviewees with key stakeholders. The paper makes recommendations for greater public/private partnerships.

Providing housing with care may seem to be integration at its best. This paper investigates the workforce implications of this form of provision with a focus on older people with high support needs.

The purpose of this paper is to review the recent literature on housing with care in England where a longitudinal approach has been adopted and to identify possible new research projects that focus on gaps in the existing literature.

The review of the relevant research literature draws in part on an earlier overview of the broader literature on housing with care, part of an NIHR School for Social Care Research project, Adult Social Services Environments and Settings (ASSET).

The literature review suggests that the findings from longitudinal studies on housing with care in England have usually been based on administrative sources (such as assessments) rather than the primary focus being on the voice of residents and frontline staff. It is therefore suggested that further studies are required to reflect the views of everyday life in housing with care settings.

This literature review and the longitudinal qualitative framework for undertaking further inquiry forms the basis for a major bid for funds from the NIHR School for Social Care Research. This is a collaborative endeavour between the University of Bristol’s School for Policy Studies, the Association for Dementia Studies at the University of Worcester, the Personal Social Services Research Unit at the University of Kent and the Housing and Learning Improvement Network. The limitations of this paper reflect the paucity of past investigations on the contribution of social care to the quality of life of elderly residents in extra care housing.

As noted above, the reviews of this draft paper have helped to determine the form of the bid for research funds. Informal discussions with commissioners and providers of extra care housing for older people indicate that access for fieldwork along the lines proposed should not prove to be a major barrier. One of the important implications is to add to the weight of evidence about the working conditions of care staff in extra care housing. The research is likely to highlight both good and poor practices, not least with consequences for the quality of life of elderly residents.

As indicated above, the paper draws attention to the need for a longitudinal qualitative study on the contribution of social care to the quality of life of older residents in extra care housing. Such a study would focus both on the details of everyday lives experienced by residents and the interaction in this setting between frontline staff and residents. In the context of major demographic change in the UK and planned further substantial cuts in public expenditure, this research is of high relevance for both policy and practice in this field of social care.

The review indicated a reliance on administratively derived information about residents rather than focusing on the voice of residents and frontline staff. Future longitudinal research should pay attention to the latter.

The purpose of this paper is to present the findings of an early stage, exploratory case study of a proposed housing with care initiative (the Crichton Care Campus (CCC)). This sought the perspectives of a range of key stakeholders on the proposed model and how it might be best realised. The analyses of these findings show their relevance to debates on integrated housing with care, and reflect on the methodology used and its potential relevance to similar projects.

The study used a transactive planning approach, where grounded views are sought from a variety of stakeholders. A purposive sample identified informants from relevant health, social care and housing organisations and nine semi-structured interviews were conducted. These were transcribed and data analysis was undertaken on an “interactive” basis, relating care theory to empirical expressions.

The authors identify two contrasting orientations – inclusive “community-oriented” and professional “service-oriented”. This distinction provides the basis for a rudimentary conceptual map which can continue to be used in the planning process. Two significant variables within the conceptual map were the extent to which CCC should be intergenerational and as such, the degree to which care should come from formalised and self-care/informal sources. The potential to achieve an integrated approach was high with stakeholders across all sectors fully supporting the CCC concept and agreeing on the need for it to have a mixed tenure basis and include a range of non-care amenities.

This paper offers originality in two respects. Methodologically, it describes an attempt to undertake early stage care planning using a needs led transactive methodology. In more practical terms, it also offers an innovative environment for considering any approach to care planning that actively seeks integration – based on an acknowledgement of complexity, a variety of perspectives and possible conflicts. The authors propose that the concepts of “community-orientation” and “service-orientation” are used as a helpful basis for planning negotiations, making implicit divergences explicit and thus better delineated.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential of housing with care schemes to act as community hubs. The analysis highlights a range of benefits, barriers and facilitators.

Data are presented from the Adult Social Services Environments and Settings project which used a mixed methods approach including a review of the literature, surveys and in-depth case study interviews.

Most housing with care schemes have a restaurant or café, communal lounge, garden, hairdresser, activity room and laundrette, while many also have a library, gym, computer access and a shop. Many of these facilities are open not just to residents but also to the wider community, reflecting a more integrated approach to community health and adult social care, by sharing access to primary health care and social services between people living in the scheme and those living nearby. Potential benefits of this approach include the integration of older people’s housing, reduced isolation and increased cost effectiveness of local services through economies of scale and by maximising preventative approaches to health and wellbeing. Successful implementation of the model depends on a range of criteria including being located within or close to a residential area and having on-site facilities that are accessible to the public.

This paper is part of a very new literature on community hub models of housing with care in the UK. In the light of new requirements under the Care Act to better coordinate community services, it provides insights into how this approach can work and offers an analysis of the benefits and challenges that will be of interest to commissioners and providers as well as planners. This was a small scale research project based on four case studies. Caution should be taken when considering the findings in different settings.

This paper aims to describe the RE-COV study and to summarise its findings. It focuses particularly on the implications of lessons learned for national, operational and building design policy and practice.

Invitations to take part in a RE-COV study survey were emailed to the operators of 270 retirement villages and older people’s extra care housing schemes in England which were known to the Elderly Accommodation Counsel. Completed questionnaires were returned from 38 operators, online or electronically, between December 2020 and February 2021.

Survey findings evidenced the breadth and depth of the operators’ responses, the effects these had on residents’ lives and worthwhile changes which could be made. Outcomes demonstrated included higher levels of protection for residents from the COVID-19 virus compared to older people living in the general community, and high levels of residents feeling safe, supported and reassured.

The findings are used to offer evidence-based recommendations for housing operators, building designers and policymakers which could enhance resident, staff and operators’ health and well-being, both going forward and during possible future pandemics.

There is evidence that retirement villages and extra care housing provided safe, resilient and supportive environments during the first year of the pandemic which were highly valued by residents.

This study addressed a knowledge gap regarding how the COVID-19 pandemic had impacted housing-with-care stakeholders, evidencing specifically how operators had responded, and what their response achieved.

This paper seeks to describe the development of an annual National Housing for Older People Awards scheme, to celebrate innovation in extra care housing, using a card game between residents to gather views on the services they receive. The approach, based entirely on residents' views, has been further developed into a Resident Consultation Service and is suitable for both general retirement housing and housing‐with‐care schemes.

As a case study of development practice, the paper is based on the first‐hand knowledge of the development team. It relates this development to the broader UK policy context which now requires older persons' accommodation services to develop a range of consultative approaches, and highlights the importance of including informal, scheme‐based and social opportunities for residents to share their views – especially for those who may be frail.

The card game approach is informal, resident‐led, allows for group discussions and group scores and scoring by individuals, and provides meaningful comparisons with other schemes regionally and nationally. In the absence of formal evaluative research, the feedback from service users is that the card game, combined with the awards nomination and ceremony, is an enjoyable and effective means to elicit their views, with minimal input from the service provider agencies.

The card game offers an enjoyable and engaging, but low cost means of providing essential feedback to service providers in housing with care and support. The awards approach takes this further, as a means by which current older residents can now provide benchmarking quality information for future potential residents across the country.

This is the first paper of its kind to describe the development of the awards scheme, the Resident Consultation Service, and the card game itself. As an example of empowering practice, it will be of interest to supported accommodation services and any others working with older persons, or other comparable resident groups, to encourage them to give their views individually and collectively on the services they receive, and to celebrate the successes of good services.

This article summarises the key proposals in the Housing Green Paper and considers how the vision for housing outlined by the Government needs to complement and support other policy developments in the health and social care sectors, including the Supporting People new policy and funding framework. It identifies some problem areas associated with rent restructuring and the reforming of lettings policies which might affect people in need of housing with support.