Unpicking the downsizing discourse: understanding the housing moves made by older people in England

Abstract

The UK’s ageing population has generated contradictory policy responses. On the one hand, facing the lack of specialist housing for the elderly, older people are incentivised to ‘age in place’; on the other, to move to smaller homes to free-up family housing, reducing pressure on housing supply. This ‘downsizing’ discourse is presented as a ‘win-win’ situation which benefits older people and the rest of society. However, a survey and interviews conducted with over 55 s in England reveals more nuanced patterns of residential moves, behaviours and aspirations than suggested by ‘downsizing’. Only a minority of older households choose to downsize. This paper looks into this mismatch between observed housing choices and the construction of downsizing as a policy goal. It suggests that theoretically speaking, the very notion of downsizing is problematic and difficult to define and is an over-simplistic concept which in reality applies to a heterogeneous group of people.