Listening to the Voices of Older People: a personal view

Dialogue, having fun, exploring ideas, learning and discovering together are quality processes when engaging with older people. My work with the Elders Council of Newcastle (opens new window), has given me privileged access to engage in a variety of processes and build my knowledge and understanding of what’s important when deciding where to live in later life.

I have also talked with many older people considering a move who can’t find appropriate alternatives. This is particularly true for those of us on middle incomes who can’t afford retirement housing and don’t want to be tied into unpredictable management costs and re-sale uncertainty. Some of us are also reluctant to live in ‘older people’s housing’ ghettoes. We prefer intergenerational communities, embedded in neighbourhoods which are well served with local amenities including public transport, shops and community facilities.

Through the Elders Council, a group of us learned about co-housing. We visited New Ground (opens new window) and LILAC (opens new window) and liked what we saw. We formed a group called ‘Independent Creative Living’ and drew up a set of principles.  We would:

• Live alongside people with shared interests rather than our age
• Continue to have agency
• Be creative and contribute to the wider community
• Offer each other mutual support
• Live in good quality, energy efficient, accessible housing which we can afford, with security of tenure
• Have views of or easy access to green space
• Be close to amenities and public transport
• Live sustainably.

It’s a housing model that appeals to those of us ageing without children (opens new window) or who don’t have that immediate circle of people to help with caring or advocating on our behalf.

We are on a long road to achieve our dream. It’s heartening that the Community Land Trust Network (opens new window) and UK Co-housing (opens new window) facilitate the journey while advocating that models of community housing are possible for more than extraordinary pioneers.

We are encouraged by mounting evidence from Collaborative Housing and Innovation in Care that co-housing increases social cohesion and trust and helps reduce loneliness.

Could co-housing help achieve the simple yet powerful aspiration set out by Social Care Future (opens new window):

‘We all want to live in a place we call home, with the people and the things we love, in communities where we look out for one another, doing the things that matter most.’

We won’t know until more of us have the chance to try.

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We were delighted to welcome Barbara to our Annual Conference, Shaping Homes for Health, Independence and Connection, held in Newcastle in February 2026. To read the full conference debrief, click here (live soon).