Specialised housing should be provided to cater for the growing number of elderly people in Kirklees.
To do so would mean dumping an open-age policy that has seen some housing designed for older people used by young adults and families with children.
Speaking at a full meeting of Kirklees Council in Huddersfield Town Hall, veteran Conservative Bill Armer said the authority’s own housing strategy predicted a 40% rise in residents aged 65+ up to 2031.
And with the report highlighting a significant shortage of housing available for the elderly, he suggested the open-age policy should be axed.
“Once upon a time in Kirklees we had a policy of providing dedicated sections of social housing for the exclusive use of people aged over 55/60,” he said.
“Over time ideas changed and we developed an open-age policy, which has led to some areas designed for older people now housing a mix of people, including in some cases families with young children.
“This change came about for the perfectly reasonable purpose of ensuring that social housing was fully utilised. Now I think it is time to revisit the open-age policy.
“It is time for us to revert to a policy in which accommodation designed for older people is again reserved for those for whom it was designed.
“Well-meaning but mistaken changes should be reversed.”
In response Labour’s deputy group leader Clr David Sheard explained the change had been driven by legal necessity.
“We changed the policy against the wish of nearly every councillor on this council because we were advised we were breaking the law by discriminating on the basis of age.
“I think that advice was wrong and we should be reviewing it now. Not a single member of the council wanted to bring that in. We were forced to do it by our lawyers saying we were breaking the law.”
