Age, Home and Community strategy: progress report

Overview

The 2011 Age, Home and Community strategy set out a range of initiatives with the collective aim of better supporting older people to live independently at home as they age. This is something that older people consistently tell us they want, and as set out in the original strategy the housing sector has a number of crucial contributions to ensuring this can happen:

• Ensuring an appropriate balance of housing provision
• Providing specialist housing with care and support
• Providing housing adaptations and other preventative property-related services
• Providing information and advice on housing and support services
• Building new housing, both mainstream and specialist, which is adaptable
• Supporting local communities through wider activities, such as promotion of community cohesion

This review reports what progress has been made towards each of the 34 original commitments in the first 5 years of the 10 year strategy, as well as highlighting some examples of exemplary practice that have developed in this time. The document is organised according to the five original themes of:

01 Clear strategic leadership

02 Information and advice

03 Better use of existing housing

04 Preventative support services

05 New build housing

Much has been achieved across the sector since Age, Home and Community was published in December 2011, but we recognise there is more to do and further to go, particularly to respond to emerging challenges and opportunities, and to tackle some of the greatest challenges, including moving to a truly preventative model and responding to the changing needs and aspirations of Scotland’s older population. This document captures our progress at the midway point but we will be continuing to work with stakeholders, including older people themselves, to fully meet the ambitions of the Age, Home and Community strategy and improve outcomes for the older population of Scotland up to 2021, and beyond. Our refreshed strategy, to be published later in the autumn, will set out the steps to achieve this.