All old people should sell up family homes for families.

I do think hoarding housing way too big for you without reason is selfish and why we have a crisis.

But this is assuming that younger families can afford those big houses!

Most older people bought their homes when houses were much cheaper and a smaller proportion of income.

Those homes are now out of reach of many young couples with families.

The value of mine has increased by over £500K.

It's out of reach for anyone now unless they have a huge deposit and take out a big mortgage.

The solution to the housing crisis is to build more houses.
Supply and demand.

Unless someone is very ill maybe with dementia, there is the option of carers coming to their own home up to 4 times a day. It's far cheaper to pay for this and even have adaptations done to a house, (fitting a loo, stair lift, etc) than paying £40K a year for a nursing home.

It cost my relatives 90k for just under a yr...they used a private care agency as that was the most viable option. There aren't enough carers to cope with the changing demographic.

Of course not everyone does. But no-one can predict who will and who won't be able to stay living at home. Circumstances can change so rapidly. Hopefully those relying on inheriting their parents' homes will do so but it's a reality that many won't.

If they made all the boomers give up driving in good time (by compulsory re-testing, making them do parking manoevres etc.) that would maybe focus their minds on moving into smaller houses which are generally in town centres*. There'd be loads of benefits with things like revitalising town centres. I'm all for it.

*someone will come along and say they live in a tiny cottage in the middle of nowhere... but generally...

Sorry that was @DeliciouslyDecadent

"The rate of A&E attendances amongst over 80s went up by 40% between 2012/13 and 2021/22."

"In 2019/20 alone there were 855,000 emergency admissions to hospital of older people which could have been avoided with the right care at the right time."

"Between 2015 and 2020 there was a 24% reduction in the number of nursing posts in social care and 12% reduction in the number of district nursing posts".

"Since 2017/18, 36,000 fewer older people are getting long-term care from their local authority."

"An estimated 1.6 million people aged 65+ have unmet needs for care and support"

It's only going to get worse so I think it's naive to assume less people will end up in care homes.

We did downsize from our 5 bedroom family house to our 2 bedroom home that we live in now but it took us ages to find it. All the two beds we looked at were pokey starter homes- one double and one single bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom. Nowhere near big enough!
Ours has two double bedrooms, two bathrooms, big hallway, kitchen/diner/sitting room and separate living room, small utility room, double garage, large driveway, manageable garden.
Until builders take note people won't downsize.

It was sold to a youngish couple who have since had a baby.
It is actually a great place to bring up kids, outstanding primary school. Ours thrived there. Until they were about 14-17 anyway. But at 17 they got their drivers' licences!

Isn't it going to be more common though because people are living longer but healthy life expectancy hasn't increased.

The life expectancy of men and women has decreased, actually, by a couple of years.

Unless someone is very ill maybe with dementia, there is the option of carers coming to their own home up to 4 times a day. It's far cheaper to pay for this and even have adaptations done to a house, (fitting a loo, stair lift, etc) than paying £40K a year for a nursing home.

I do think hoarding housing way too big for you without reason is selfish and why we have a crisis.

That said I don't know any older people who ended up living alone in a big empty house. All had carers or family living with them, so I don't think its 'old people' causing the issue.

From my real life observation it tends to be married happily childless career couples who are hoarding 3/4 bed 'family' houses even though its just the 2 of them (and maybe a pet) and they have no plan to have anyone else live there at any point.

I did view a house just the other day where the couple have lived their 40 years. Raised their 3 kids and helped raise their teen grandkids and are moving because its (in their words) unnecessarily big. They weren't even frail OAPs either just young-ish fit grandparent who cycle and hike. However a fractured pelvis from a tumble down the stairs they said was the final straw and they are looking for a bungalow so some will move of their own will.

I get their point as well my grandparents where physically very healthy (fitter than me even) and active but my grandad died falling down the stairs. Just one little slip and he broke his neck and never recovered.

I think that it does happen that some older people live in houses that are unsuitable for their needs and might suit a young family.
Houses with stairs, 3 + bedrooms, large gardens, etc are often more difficult to manage when people are older or more frail. (Ive seen this several times with family and older neighbours)

However there are so many more factors than the size and layout of a house/garden.
My dad lived in a family house until he died. There had only been 1 or 2 people there for 15 years + and guests rarely stayed

The house was fine for him until he was well into his 70s and his garden was his hobby and a way of keeping active. He was less than 5 min walk to a selection of shops and a chemist who knew he and my mum really well, and their medical needs. He was also 5 min from a bus to take him to other places and had amazing neighbours who had been friends for years. There were very few flats and no bungalows that Im aware of, in the immediate surrounding area that might be more suitable for him

Am also an oldie and planning to downsize in the next couple of years and gift some money to the DC. We have a huge house which I love but we don't need and I worry that if we don't move when we are relatively young the idea will become overwhelming as we age. It will be sad to leave but I feel it's the right thing to do.

@SiobhanSharpe So- for the sake of argument- was your house sold to a family with young children?

This is always trotted out, sorry but not everyone ends up in a care home. For some they do and ALOT of others it never does. Neither my partners parents or any of our grandparents went into care homes they all had able lives and died at whilst living in their home with no support needed.

Isn't it going to be more common though because people are living longer but healthy life expectancy hasn't increased. Plus in the past often family stepped in to help relatives stay in the home & there was more state support, better NHS care . My relatives I mentioned upthread went private for care because they couldn't get adequate state support & the only option was a care home which they didn't actually need.

100 %

We are retired and downsized recently from a older, spacious four bed, three recep with half an acre of garden to a modern three bed house with a tiny garden, it has been very hard fitting all our possessions into a much smaller space and it has cost a lot more than we thought it would. previously we had a kitchen, dining room, family room, study and sitting room. Here we have a sitting room and a kitchen diner.
However it had to be done. DH, although a keen gardener, was finding the garden hard to manage. We relocated from a village to a city because we were looking to the future when we may not be able to drive. So we wanted decent public transport (almost impossible in the village) plus convenient access to a drs' surgery, nice coffee shops, local pubs, restaurants and shops.
We've picked a good area but in a very expensive city so we ended up spending more on the smaller house....
Very happy here so far but I do miss the old place.

"Lots of people merrily stating their parents will live their days out at home... they need to either need to be ready to provide care 24/7 or have the money for a nice care home."

@OwlBlossom It's not the norm to go into a care home. Statistically, most people don't.

Looking back at least 2 generations, none of my family has been in a care home. They all lived to their late 80s or 90s in their own homes. Two grandparents went into a care home for literally a few weeks as 'end of life care'.

@milveycrohn surely being in London you have significant equity?

As an 'oldie', the problem is the cost of downsizing.
We still live in the same house we have lived in for many years. We never really 'upsized', so with that in mind it is harder to downsize.
As we live in London, then you have to take into account the expensive stamp duty, estate agent fees, solicitors, removals, and also any work the smaller house may need, and new 'curtains and carpets', a euphamism by which I mean your curtains (or blinds) may not fit the windows of new house and furniture may not be appropriate for smaller house, and you will need to change stuff.
So it is a massive expense.
It is also very stressful, and many people get to a stage in life where they cannot face the stress of all the hassle of moving.

My mother is alone and in her eighties. She lives in a 4 bed detached. Ideally she would downsize but given the complete lack of housing built or available in an appropriate size in a location which she could access friends and family or local amenities (given she is likely to have to stop driving due to age fairly soon) she has no choice but to remain where she is
It’s not simply a case of oldies hogging big houses through choice. Supply of suitable housing isn’t a problem that only afflicts families!

@OwlBlossom "Lots of people merrily stating their parents will live their days out at home... they need to either need to be ready to provide care 24/7 or have the money for a nice care home."

This is always trotted out, sorry but not everyone ends up in a care home. For some they do and ALOT of others it never does. Neither my partners parents or any of our grandparents went into care homes they all had able lives and died at whilst living in their home with no support needed.

If I could be grated one wish though, it would be that well-off people gift more of their money before they die, to help their kids and grandchildren.A financial advisor once told me that even extremely wealthy people believe they 'need' all their money and that they only just have enough.

@nobodysdaughternow You mean you don't know anyone who does this?

Most of our friends (and us) have handed over large sums of money (6 figures) as a deposit to children and also gift £3K pa to each. Some of the deposit was money inherited from their own parents (so the children's grandparents) and passed straight down the line.

Lots of people merrily stating their parents will live their days out at home... they need to either need to be ready to provide care 24/7 or have the money for a nice care home. Things get BAD fast, and needs become WAY more than thrice daily carers can manage.

Some older in-laws recently died & they were lucky to be able to stay in their home. You're right though things go bad fast & they payed approx 90k for carers in the home.

I find the idea that the elderly should move out of their homes very distasteful, even though I appreciate the housing issues.

I'm in my 40s, and very comfortable in my home. I can't imagine how upsetting it would be if someone told me, 'your out, a more deserving family with younger kids is in, for the good of society, yadda yadda'.

Sheesh, my grandpa vowed to leave his house in a coffin, and it was SO important to him. He died last week, in a care home (that he'd been in for 7 months, aged 98).

Lots of people merrily stating their parents will live their days out at home... they need to either need to be ready to provide care 24/7 or have the money for a nice care home. Things get BAD fast, and needs become WAY more than thrice daily carers can manage.

By the way, there are houses available at affordable prices, plenty of brownfield development sites it's just there's not enough work in those areas! The issue is better distribution of employment opportunities through incentives to move out of the overcrowded areas