While housing is not generally regarded as an integral part of community care policy, there is a strong case for seeing it as an important component of the spectrum of services that need to be provided for people as they age.

This report provides an overview of current policy and practice relating to private sheltered housing for older people. It considers the characteristics (both now and in the short to mid term) of the ageing population, current patterns and trends in housing provision, changing preferences amongst older people and salient issues in planning policy.

With the growth in absolute numbers of older people and with changing living patterns, the number of people in supported accomodation of some kind is growing, and likely to continue to grow, over the next twenty years. Private sheltered housing is going to be a significant and increasingly important player.