HLINks Weekly: Housing, Health and Social Care Latest News
HLINks Weekly: Housing, Health and Social Care Latest News
7 September 2026
Welcome back to HLINks! We hope you had a wonderful summer, and that you're ready to dive into what promises to be a packed autumn and winter schedule here at the Housing LIN.
Topping today's newsletter is the recent launch of our Housing LIN 2025-26 Year in Review, reflecting on twelve months of network growth, new publications, policy influence and consultancy work that has helped shape better housing options for older and disabled people across the UK.
We're also pleased to share that our new season of HAPPI Hour webinars kicks off on the 22 September, with registration now open for most sessions - the full lineup will follow very soon, so watch this space.
Meanwhile, lots has happened while we've been on hiatus, including:
- Three new Housing LIN Viewpoints: a conversation on dementia and housing, senior cohousing versus intergenerational living, and a typology-based approach to specialist housing forecasting
- Two new Inspirational Achievements: PRP's work on the Moya Cole Hospice, and Places for People's Lavender View extra care scheme in Norfolk
- Three new guest blogs: partnership in the analogue-to-digital transition, the launch of the Home Adaptations Advice Network, and what the revised NPPF means for specialist and older persons' housing
- Government published its long-awaited revised National Planning Policy Framework
- NHF published a literature review on the funding of supported housing
- A call for older people's voices in North Manchester to be heard as major regeneration plans take shape
- Everon launched new Digital Evaluation Packages to help providers trial connected care technology ahead of the 2027 analogue-to-digital switchover
Read on for all this, and lots more that caught our interest over the summer in this bumper issue!
Thank you for joining us each week and being part of our learning community
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Best wishes, The Housing LIN Team |
Housing LIN Summer Summary
Housing LIN 2025-26 Year in Review
We are very proud to have recently published the Housing LIN 2025-26 Year in Review, celebrating a year of significant achievement across the housing, health and social care sectors.
Explore our highlights of April 2025 to March 2026, in case studies, graphics and images, with an introduction from CEO Jeremy Porteus.
How can we centre forward housing with care?
As the men's English Premier League transfer window closes, Jeremy Porteus contemplates the disparity between the billions spent on players and the critically underfunded care sector, and asks how we tackle the big conversation questions that aren't making the news.
Housing LIN team away day
The Housing LIN team set sail for a pastoral day cruising the Kennet & Avon canal, as they set out priorities and plans for the year ahead.
Find out more about the team behind the LIN, as they showed their strengths, on and off the water.
News Highlights
HAPPI Hour Autumn / Winter season
Our new season of HAPPI Hour webinars is almost ready to launch, but you can already book for many of this season's sessions now. We begin on Tuesday 22nd September with 'A HAPPI future - Designing age-friendly homes and communities for wellbeing'.
** An important correction:
An error was made in the schedule preview we issued last week: Dr Wei Yang OBE is the CEO of the Digital Task Force for Planning, which is an independent, not-for-profit organisation, and not a government task force as stated. We apologise for the mistake, and very much look forward to welcoming Dr Yang to our HAPPI Hour on the 8th October, 'Specialist Housing and the impact of Artificial Intelligence'.
Everon launches Digital Evaluation Packages
Everon has launched a range of digital evaluation packages, available in three tiers, to help housing associations and care providers trial its cloud-based technology before committing to a full rollout ahead of the January 2027 analogue-to-digital switchover.
Resource Roundup
Three new Housing LIN Viewpoints
Brand new Viewpoints issued over the summer include:
- Ali Rogan and Vanessa Pritchard-Wilkes of the Dementia & Housing Working Group (DHWG) discuss why housing must be treated as central to dementia care rather than a specialist afterthought;
- Dr Kirsten Stevens-Wood weighs the merits of senior cohousing against intergenerational living, drawing on examples including New Ground and Rupali Court; and
- Dr Ngozi Fakeye sets out a typology-based approach to forecasting demand for specialist housing.
Two new Inspirational Achievements
Two new examples of our sponsor's inspirational practice in the sector, including:
- PRP's design work on the new Moya Cole Hospice in Heald Green, Greater Manchester, reimagines end-of-life care with a modernised inpatient unit and dedicated bereavement and family support spaces; and
- Places for People's partnership with Norfolk County Council delivers Lavender View, a 61-apartment extra care scheme in Hunstanton for people aged 55 and over.
National Planning Policy Framework, 2026
On 17 August 2026, the Government published a substantially rewritten National Planning Policy Framework, its first comprehensive overhaul since 2012, restructuring policies into plan-making and decision-making sections.
The Future of Supported Housing Project: learning from existing literature
As part of its Future of Supported Housing project with New Local, the National Housing Federation has published a literature review examining how supported housing has been funded in England since the 1990s, including lessons from the Supporting People programme.
Ageing, inequality and urban regeneration: Collaborative research with older people living in North Manchester
A new study from the Manchester Urban Ageing Research Group warns that older residents risk feeling excluded and "culturally displaced" by the £6bn North Manchester regeneration programme, and calls for their voices to be heard as plans take shape.
Expert Insights
Three new Housing LIN guest blogs
Some vital think-pieces issued over the last few weeks include:
Angus Honeysett, Market Development Director at Tunstall Healthcare, makes the case for partnership as the sector moves through the analogue-to-digital transition;
Katherine Whitehead of Foundations marks the launch of the Home Adaptations Advice Network, offering free training, factsheets and an AI-powered advisor to support frontline advisors delivering Disabled Facilities Grants; and
WWA's Mark Slater examines what the newly revised NPPF, published last month, means for specialist and older persons' housing.
What else caught our interest...
Age UK Report: Digital Inclusion for Older People in England
Association for Dementia Studies blog: Invitation for Dementia friendly parks case studies
BBC News story: We share a 15-acre mansion in Powys for cost of a two-bed house
Care Talk issue: Narratives of Care
Habinteg Housing blog: Fixing adult social care starts with mandating higher national accessibility standards
King’s Fund blog: Housing, homelessness and health: lessons from Birmingham's joined-up approach
Octopus Capital news item: The first £1 billion: what building Britain’s retirement communities has taught us – and why the next £1 billion could look different
Paul Smith, Foundations blog: The right adaptation at the right time: do our systems make that possible?
Showhouse magazine feature: Coming of Age
The Connection Project report: How can the UK create a digital society in which everyone can participate and thrive?
The Times [subscription only]: The village that needed affordable housing — so did it themselves
Welsh Government consultation: National Development Framework
Dates for your diary
A HAPPI future: Designing age-friendly homes and communities for wellbeing
22nd September, 4pm - 5pm
On the eve of the national Housing Design Awards, we kick off our Autumn/Winter series of HAPPI Hour webinars by bringing together leading European researchers, architects and commissioners to share how local communities are taking forward age-friendly design.
Visit our Forthcoming Events page for the full Autumn / Winter schedule.
Other Events supported by the Housing LIN
15th September, 10am - 4pm
- Community-Led Housing Futures Summit 2026
Organised by: UK Cohousing Network
23rd September, 10am - 12pm
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LSE Roundtable Discussion: How can we meet the housing needs of an ageing population
Organised by: LSE Housing and Communities
Date: 23/09/2026 10am till 12pm
29th September, 9am - 1st October, 12:30pm
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Global Intergenerational Congress
Organised by: Generations Working Together
Date: 29/09/2026 9am till 01/10/2026 12:30pm
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