ALONE says right-sizing is right for some but does not solve the housing crisis for older people.

Older people should not be seen as the solution to the housing crisis , they have one of their own. 

ALONE, the organisation that supported over 43,000 older people across its services last year, says the current debate on right-sizing (or “downsizing”) misses the core issues behind our housing crisis. 

ALONE CEO Seán Moynihan said: “Older people are not the solution to the housing crisis, in fact many are victims of it; right-sizing is only one tool in the toolbox, but we have a much deeper structural problem as a society. In fact, an increasing number of older people are renting, many in the private sector. With an ageing population, and with many in their 40s and 50s locked out of home ownership, we need to radically rethink how we provide adequate housing to meet everyone’s needs”. 

As our population ages faster than any other in the EU and home ownership rates drop, ALONE has identified, through research with Social Justice Ireland, a full suite of housing policy recommendations to address the current crisis, and the shortage of appropriate housing for older people as our population ages: 

• 82,500 social housing units built to Universal Design standards for older people by 2040 – 25% of the 330,000 that are needed. 

• 123,000 additional smaller units by 2040 as part of overall housing stock 

• 17,215 supportive housing units, 5,656 co-housing and retirement village units, and 1,721 housing with support units to be delivered by 2040. 

Continuing he said: “We welcome what seems to be a growing commitment to enable older people to right-size, if moving to a more affordable, warmer and manageable home is what they want to do. But it’s a debate at a time when we see more and more 60 and 70 year olds applying for social housing. Right-sizing is not a silver-bullet solution for our chronic shortage of affordable and social housing, something that impacts everyone across society. Nobody should feel they need to give up their home unless it’s their own choice and the right choice for them”. 

While a commitment to a right-sizing plan has been in place within Housing for All since 2022, a key obstacle is the lack of suitable one- and two-bed houses for right-sizers to move into. Data from the Irish Government Economic & Evaluation Service shows that 15-20% of older people in Ireland would be willing to sell their home and move into a smaller, warmer purpose-built home in the same area if the option were available. 

One such housing solution is the Housing with Support model developed by ALONE and its partners at Richmond Place, Dublin 8. A housing solution between home and nursing home. 

Moynihan concluded: “It’s good that we’re talking about housing for older people, but it does not start with right sizing, it starts with supply. This is an issue that affects the whole of society, and older people aren’t immune. We’re seeing more and more older people in some degree of housing distress, whether in the private rental sector or otherwise. Home ownership is dropping among the older population too. Without serious action to address the root issue, that’s only going to get more acute in the years ahead“.