Housing minister Caroline Flint has told Labour MP Clive Betts in a written answer that it is the Government’s “aspiration is to see all homes built to Lifetime Homes Standards by 2013,” and she said ministers will “ensure that all publicly funded housing is built to Lifetime Homes Standards by 2011.

It is currently a mandatory element of the Code for Sustainable Homes at code level 6 and will become mandatory at code levels 4 and 5 from 2010 and code level 3 from 2013, she added.

The DCLG “will continue to work with stakeholders to encourage take up of the standards across all sectors and progress will be reviewed in 2010.”
Accessible housing is already reflected in the current definition of a sustainable community, which includes a place that is inclusive to all and meets the diverse needs of all residents.

In February this year DCLG published: Lifetime Homes. Lifetime Neighbourhoods: A National Strategy for Housing in an Ageing Society, which sets out its strategy for encouraging the development of ‘Lifetime Homes Standards’ (LHS).
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