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Walsall Borough Housing Strategy 2026 Specialist and accessible housing needs

The Housing LIN assessment provides a more detailed, robust breakdown of future requirements for specialist and supported accommodation. 

Housing with care and support services in Walsall include: retirement and sheltered housing, extra care housing, supported living/supported housing, Shared Lives, adapted housing, and general needs housing with access to care and support services. These encompass a range of accommodation types where care and support are tailored to individual needs, supporting independent living for older people, adults with disabilities, and other vulnerable groups.

Key headline findings to 2040 include:

Older people:

  • Retirement/sheltered housing: Around 2,035 additional units required by 2040 (with a revised tenure split: 
  • 75% market/25% affordable up to 2035, shifting to 65% market / 35% affordable from 2035).
  • Extra care housing: Need for approximately 790 additional units by 2040, a higher figure than the HMA estimates.
  • Care homes: Residential care beds are forecasted to have surplus capacity until 2040, but there will be a shortfall of c.200 nursing care beds by 2040, reflecting a shift towards higher-acuity provision.

People with learning disabilities/Autism:

  • By 2040, an additional 85 supported living units and 30 Shared Lives placements are required.

People with mental health needs:

  • Supported housing need is projected to increase to 120 additional units by 2040, with focus on step-down, dual diagnosis, and move-on accommodation.

People with physical disabilities

  • There is a requirement for approximately 920 additional wheelchair-accessible homes (M4(3) standard) by 2040, with a tenure split broadly matching the overall housing stock (about 58% owner-occupied, 34% social rented, 8% private rented).
  • A further 45 supported living units are needed for working-age adults with physical disabilities.

The Housing LIN assessment also emphasises:

  • The importance of mainstream, adaptable, and care-ready housing alongside specialist supply;
  • The need for person-centred, flexible solutions rather than rigid cohort-based provision;
  • The necessity to regularly update needs evidence and to target provision at the locality level.

These specialist requirements, set out in detail in the Housing LIN report, are additional to the general needs requirements identified in the HMA, and should be embedded in both planning policy and commissioning priorities.