NHF supported housing and older persons' housing development survey 2025

The findings from the National Housing Federation's (NHF) annual survey on the development of supported and older person’s housing paints a complex picture, showing supported housing providers want to develop more homes but are threatened by the risk of service closure and decommissioning. In particular, they found:

• Survey respondents were very concerned about funding for supported housing, which may cause schemes to close. For example, a reduction in support funding was also one of the top three reasons respondents said would contribute to the risk of schemes closing. The other top two factors were no uprating of funding for support costs to match inflation and the costs of National Insurance Contributions. 
   
• Supported and older persons’ housing providers want to develop much-needed homes, and many are doing so despite a very challenging operating landscape. It revealed that although many services are at risk of closure, there is still an appetite to develop much-needed homes. This varied slightly by type of home, with over two thirds of respondents providing housing for older people (62%) having development plans, but less than half (48%) having plans to build new housing.
   
• There are significant barriers to developing more supported and older persons’ housing. Responses highlighted the following barriers; capital grant funding being too low, building safety and decarbonisation costs being too high, Housing Benefit funding and local authorities decommissioning services.

And, if you found this of interest, check out our latest Housing LIN case study on the development of supported housing for Surrey County Council.