PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Housing: Construction (25 January 2016)

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, if he will meet with house builders to discuss increasing the provision of two-bedroom end bungalows in the housing market so that retirees can downsize from larger two-storey residential housing.

Asked by:
Mark Pritchard (Conservative)

I meet with housebuilders regularly and have had many meetings on the provision of older peoples' housing. This Government is committed to provide older people with choice over the housing that best meets their needs.

We have clear planning policy to support older peoples' housing, and we strengthened guidance last year to reinforce our expectations – including to get local authorities to recognise the benefits of supporting applications to build homes for people wishing to downsize.

We are clear that local councils and mainstream housing providers need to increase the quality, choice and provision of housing for older people. We hope this will enable many older people who wish to move to available properties that suit their needs to do so, while freeing up family sized homes.

Answered by:
Sir Brandon Lewis (Conservative)
29 January 2016