Project Director: Stephen Green
Project Duration: 2017

In partnership with the University of Sheffield, CRESR have assessed the future housing, care and support needs of residents in Greater Cambridge. This work was commissioned by South Cambridgeshire District Council (SCDC), in collaboration with Cambridge City Council and Cambridgeshire County Council, with funding from NHS England's Healthy New Towns programme.

The research provides a range of findings for local partners on the future supply of older people's housing, and the linkages between such provision and a range of other services and policy areas.

The project has also led to the development of a new tool to help local authorities across England assess the need for older people's housing in their area. This tool (HOPSR) is available to download via a link at the bottom of the page. HOPSR provides each local authority with recommendations about the number of age-exclusive homes, specialist homes and care beds required in their area in future years. It also enables users to test different scenarios and plan on the basis of certain population sizes.

The recommendations are intended to stimulate discussion at a local level about how best to meet the requirements of an ageing population. The research shows that the future needs of older people can be met in different ways, and that local authorities and their partners should try to understand the relationship between different services and forms of accommodation to define local priorities and strategies for action.

The Housing for Older People Supply Recommendations (HOPSR) tool is available here. Upon opening the file enable the macros and select one of the four options in the boxes.

The project team also includes David Robinson and Malcolm Tait (University of Sheffield).