Ms Caroline Timmons:

As part of the work on Housing Options for Our Ageing Population, through the four subgroups we did a lot of research and looked at the benefits of older people's housing and supported housing. That was one of the papers done by the Housing Agency. It was very clear that there is a real benefit to bringing forward supported housing. It could be seen that there was a clear need for it. Why is it not coming through? That is hard to answer in some ways. In some cases it is expensive to provide. Housing supports are expensive to provide, and one will need a provider to come in. Developers will not necessarily know how to do that, but we see some developments come through now on the private side that are specifically designated for older people and advertised as such. There is not necessarily a support element involved because not all older people will need that, but it may be appropriate to their needs in respect of the facilities provided. I am interested in that and it is coming through. With the age-friendly homes website we have provided all the resources to developers to look at what they need to do to make developments age-friendly. That has been really useful to them over the past year. Also, the designation of age-friendly technical people in the local authorities to whom they can talk about how to make developments age-friendly has been really useful to them. That will perhaps stimulate some more development on the private side.

In respect of the point about age criteria, the Vice Chairman is right. Many people are surprised to find that they qualify as needing age-friendly housing. Some people put that point at over 55. I do not necessarily agree, but it is certainly something we need to plan for a lot earlier. I agree with the Vice Chairman that we need to do that.

We consider the financial contribution scheme as part of the right-sizing policy we are bringing forward. It is a matter of considering how we manage that and provide solutions that are options to come into social housing but also what the barriers to people downsizing are. We looked at that as part of the ideas research we did in our Department on what would incentivise people to right-size. People identified the hassle and solicitors' fees. They want not necessarily someone who will guide them through the process but something like that, that is, someone who will help them to make the move. Sometimes that person is lacking in their family. We might consider that as part of our overall response to the right-sizing policy and what we can do on that front.

As for the fair deal scheme, I will hand over to Ms Comer.