New sites identified for extra care housing
Manchester City Council’s executive is set to approve an additional four sites for the development of 400 extra care retirement homes in Gorton, Fallowfield, Northenden and Miles Platting.
These four plots are in areas with limited choice for older people and are located in areas accessible to local services and good transport links.
The sites are:
- Bellamy Court, Gorton
- Withington Road, Fallowfield
- Oakwood Lodge, Northenden
- Millwright Street in Miles Platting/Newton Heath
Extra care retirement housing aims to meet the growing demand from older people with housing support and care needs for the opportunity to retain their independence through living in a modern house or apartment, within a supportive community.
The developments will offer a mix of affordable rented housing, owner-occupied, shared ownership tenure and ‘step up/step down’ units for hospital discharges or to avoid emergency hospital admissions.
Wythenshawe Community Housing Group is currently building 135 homes within an extra care retirement complex, while a further two smaller extra care retirement housing schemes are being developed by Southway Housing in Burnage and Contour Homes in Fallowfield. Between them this will create a further 92 homes.
The council worked with the Housing Learning Improvement Network and the Elderly Accommodation Counsel to identify where the provision of this type of housing was needed in the city and, based on this work, identified a need over the next five years for around 400 additional extra care retirement units in four separate schemes across the city.
There is currently a funding bid in place for Bellamy Court to provide 100 units of affordable rent homes and five care accommodation units for the CCGs.
Work is currently ongoing on financial models to look at the development costs of schemes to take these proposals forward.
Cllr Bernard Priest, deputy leader of Manchester City Council, said: “Manchester has a growing ageing population and to meet the needs and demands of this group we need to ensure that we have the right type of accommodation available for people who want to continue to live independently within their communities.
“Identifying these sites for future development is the first step in ensuring that we have greater choice of this type of housing provision across the city. It also allows older people to downsize when they want to and free up much needed family housing in the city.”
