On Tuesday 15th November 2022, the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) contributed to the APPG on Housing & Care for Older People co-chaired by Peter Aldous MP and Lord Best.
Building on the MCB’s elderly care report, Deputy Secretary General, Hassan Joudi, and Research & Documentation Committee Member, Abdul A Ravat highlighted key points at the session regarding Britain’s ageing population, and the inter-section with the present and future challenges facing minority communities such as Muslims, including:
- The most recent census result showing an increase in the number of Britons aged 65+ years in the last decade, from 9.2m (2011) to 11.1m (2021), representing a circa 20% increase.
- Whilst Muslims communities are predominantly younger than average, an increasing fraction are retiring, with MCB’s own estimates projecting the Muslim population aged 65+ years will increase four-fold from 110,000 in 2011, to 450,000 by 2036.
- In the context of Britain’s older generation becoming more diverse, the strategic importance was outlined for the national and local Government, statutory bodies, social care, NHS, funders and providers to be aware of and ready to address the wider faith and culturally sensitive needs that the changing demographics will bring.
- At the same time, it was discussed that community-based infrastructure, for example mosques or other faith-based institutions, also need to be adapting. Increasingly, rapidly changing social attitudes, combined with the realities of the housing market, are making it more challenging for younger relatives to be able to look after their elderly relatives in the way that many in previous generations may have traditionally done.
The APPG aims to promote discussion and set the agenda for developing better, more joined up housing care for older people. Reports were presented to the APPG about findings from the “The Older People from Ethnic Minorities (OPEM) in Kirklees: Housing Needs and Preferences Study” commissioned by Kirklees Council. A progress report on the APPG’s inquiry into “Making retirement living affordable: the role of shared ownership housing” was also provided ahead of the release of this report in coming months.
Housing 21 also presented on Cohousing development projects such as a partnership with Birmingham City Council on 5 sites, including one involving a group of empowered Bangladeshi women who are effectively designing their own homes and community as they move into later life.
Lord Richard Best, Co-chair of the APPG on Housing and Care for Older People, following the publication of its last inquiry looking at dementia and housing said:
“We urge local authorities to identify clearly the requirements for older people’s housing that include those from minority communities and, through planning powers in collaboration with adult social care and housing services, seek to ensure these needs are met in a culturally and sensitive manner to avoid complete isolation.”
The MCB looks forward to the APPG’s upcoming report on shared ownership housing and wider strategic work in this space, as well as to providing evidence to the long-awaited launch of the Government’s Joint Taskforce on Housing for Older People promised in the Levelling Up White Paper earlier this year.
For more information about housing and care for older people in British Muslim communities or for any comments or suggestions, please get in touch here.