The . Campaign for Housing in Later Life has been launched at a Westminster . summit - and its mission is to avert what the think-tank Demos has . called 'the next big housing crisis'. Fronted by Esther Rantzen and . backed by housing providers as well as the charity Shelter, it aims to . convince councils to recognise the changing needs of older people. Demos . says there is a 'chronic undersupply of appropriate housing for older . people', and more and more are living in homes that are unmanageable. There is a 'chronic undersupply of appropriate housing for older people' This has a negative impact not just on their health and wellbeing but on . the rest of the housing chain, because properties are not being freed . up for families desperate to get on the ladder. One man who has . managed to make the switch from large family home to retirement . accommodation is Buckinghamshire widower Derek Carr - thanks to his . daughter Paula. Returning from New Zealand to live with her father, she . saw him struggling with the house and garden and suggested he downsize. 'I . didn't want to change my GP, and found a development in Princes . Risborough that allowed me to stay with the practice,' says Derek, 75. The . former insurance broker sold his house in Naphill and bought a . one-bedroom apartment at nearby Windsor Lodge, run by Churchill . Retirement Living, for £275,000 on a long lease. He spends half the year . at a holiday apartment in Spain, so the fact that the property would . be looked after while he was away appealed to him. Another plus was that . the town centre is just a few minutes' walk away. Windsor Lodge . comprises 46 private one- and two-bedroom apartments designed for . retired owners. There is a lounge for coffee mornings, games afternoons . and cream teas, and a manager is on hand to deal with any problems. Another . boon for Derek - the brother of late anti-smoking 'guru' Allen Carr - . is that the development has guest rooms where visiting family can stay. A . Demos report last month estimated that if all those interested in . buying retirement property were able to do so, 3.29 million properties . would be freed up.
Think-tank Demos says there is 'undersupply of housing for older people' The Campaign for Housing in Later Life launches at a Westminster summit . Fronted by Esther Rantzen and backed by housing providers and Shelter .