Last week the Government published its latest strategy for housing, which aims to ‘promote choice, flexibility and affordability and get the housing market moving again’.

Today I took part in an online debate on the Guardian website to discuss the key points of the strategy. Some of the key themes discussed were:

* How to increase understanding of the positive beneficial effects of owner-occupied retirement properties in purpose-built developments, where of course day-to-day issues such as property maintenance aren’t a concern

* Whether there will be enough retirement housing options on offer over the next few decades, as the construction industry urgently needs to gather momentum

* If equity release schemes could be extended to benefit the cash poor but equity rich. This may mean someone who has equity can use it to pay their service charge bills

We’re making strides to support the first two themes and I’ll be actively backing the third point whenever possible.

As regards the first point, increasing understanding of the positive beneficial effects of owner-occupied retirement properties, do let me know if you have any experiences you’d like to share with me. It’s always useful to be able to pass on first-hand information to anyone with an interest in retirement properties, including political decision-makers, industry bodies and potential Residents.

And of course if there’s any other points you’d like to make about retirement housing please send them in.

Best wishes,
Keith