Non-decent homes and later life in England: Headline statistics

According to new research by the Centre for Ageing Better and Care & Repair England an estimated 10 million people across England will spend this Christmas in a home classed as ‘non-decent’.

Ahead of a new report on the scale of non-decent housing, to be published next year, their analysis finds that there are 4.3 million non-decent homes in England, almost half of which are lived in by someone over the age of 55. 15% of all wheelchair users live in a non-decent home.

The analysis also shows that the number of households over 75 in non-decent homes is rising, from an estimated 533,000 in 2012 to 701,000 in 2017. Households headed by someone aged 75 or over are disproportionately likely to be living in a non-decent home, with more than 1 in 5 of these households living in a non-decent home. Furthermore, they found that this has a substantial cost implication on the NHS, with a “staggering” £513 million spent on first year treatment costs alone for households headed by someone over 55 living in the poorest housing.