What is Extra Care Housing?

The term 'extra care' housing is used to describe developments that comprise self-contained homes with design features and support services available to enable self- care and independent living. Extra care housing is popular with people whose disabilities, frailty or health needs make ordinary housing unsuitable but who do not need or want to move to long term care (residential or nursing homes). For a more detailed description of 'extra care housing', please consult the Housing LIN Factsheet No1 'Extra Care Housing: What is it?'

Although older people make up the majority of users of extra care, people with disabilities that are not age related are increasingly making use of this type of housing. Extra care provision comes in a huge variety of forms and may be described in different ways, for example 'very sheltered housing', 'housing with care', 'retirement communities' or 'villages'.

Extra care housing is expanding and is now offered by local authorities, housing associations and private providers. Occupants of extra care may be owners, part owners or tenants and all have legal rights to occupy underpinned by housing law (in contrast to residents in care homes).

Increasingly extra care housing is recognised as an essential component of joint commissioning by health and social care. Extra care is now being used for intermediate care and rehabilitation as well as longer term housing. Extra care developments provide a focus for integrated working to meet housing, health and social care needs.

The Department of Health, Department of Communities and Local Government, and the Housing Corporation have coordinated their efforts to provide a constructive policy framework within which strategies can be developed and options appraised.

These pages contain resources that relate to extra care housing and the information is split into 6 main topics:

• Scheme Locator - a database that covers over 1000 housing developments across the UK that offer or facilitate care services.
• Funding - information about the funding systems for extra care and in particular the Dept of Health Extra Care Housing Fund bidding process.
• Strategy - information to assist strategic commissioners in developing strategies for extra care housing including examples of strategies developed in various part of England.
• Commissioning - information to assist commissioners and planners in areas such as assessing the market for provision, decisions about re-modelling existing services, costing, outcomes and intermediate care.
• Provision - information to assist commissioners and providers in the operational planning of support services and workforce issues in extra care. Statistics on levels of extra care provision in England are also provided.
• Evaluation - examples of evaluations of extra care development.
• Tenants/service users - information about issues such as user involvement, mixed tenure, nominations and charging.

The majority of users of extra care housing are older people but most of the resources on these pages could be applied to other user groups as well. In addition to these pages you can find some resources that are specific to older people and extra care on the Older People pages. There are also examples of extra care development for other user groups on the Learning Disability, Physical Disability and Dementia pages.