Our Purpose

Preferred Homes develops, owns and manages affordable Extra Care Housing.  As a registered provider of social housing, we build rented homes for older people who can’t access suitable housing from the private market (affordable rented homes are no more than 80% of local market rent and service charge).

Our ambition is to increase the availability and quality of senior housing provision across England, helping under-pressure local authorities and making sure people can live well into their later years, regardless of their financial means.  We also have a long-term interest in ensuring the places we create are sustainable and well-managed for residents.

Our country faces an acute crisis of affordable housing and care provision, as well as an ageing population.  Affordable Extra Care Housing has the potential to transform the health and wellbeing of society’s most vulnerable adults and reduce the cost burden on local authorities.

PHL’s developments help to combat poor quality affordable housing stock, along with the shortage of suitable homes for older people with minor to intermediate care needs.

Growing Demand & Continued Shortages

British Property Federation, ‘Housing and care for older people – Defining the sector 2020’:

  • There are currently around 11 million people aged over 65 in England & Wales.  By 2029 there will be over 13 million.
  • Extra Care Housing in England, as a proportion of the older population, is at least 5 times smaller than that of other comparable countries.
  • Present delivery rates are low with developers completing an average of 7,600 units of housing for older people each year between 2015 – 2019. 
  • The undersupply of housing for older people is likely to worsen as our population ages.
  • A fivefold increase in Extra Care Housing delivery is needed over the next decade to keep up with the ageing population.

There is a need for the annual delivery of 36,000 affordable rent units – including 12,000 for Extra Care Housing.  If just 5% of all new retirement housing required is delivered as Extra Care Housing, this could equate to public purse savings of £25m per year, or £625m over 25 years (a typical nominations period).

Why Extra Care Housing

Modern Extra Care Housing can help address the increasing burden on public services by enabling flexible care to be delivered within a single location.

This means people with changing care needs are prevented from being prematurely moved to care homes at a far greater cost and worse outcome for residents.  In turn, this limits the number of patients remaining in hospital beds when they could be at home, long ambulance queues for urgent care, and avoidable early deaths.

Extra Care Housing residents’ unplanned hospital stays reduce from 8-14 to 1-2 days a year on average, and routine GP visits are reduced by 46%.

Preferred Homes estimates cost savings for a typical 80-home apartment scheme of £800,000 – or a total of £20 million over a 25-year nominations period.

Per person per annum savings:

  • Care and housing – £8,000
  • NHS – £2,000
  • Combined Savings – £10,000

The long-term wellbeing benefits for residents in Extra Care Housing are also well documented, from improved physical health, memory and cognitive abilities, to reduced loneliness, depression, anxiety and loss of purpose and autonomy.

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