Evaluating Extra Care Housing in England for older people: A comparative cost and outcome analysis with residential care

Extra care housing is an important innovation in the care and support of older people, and is a housing model that has considerable potential to support older people in leading active, independent lives. Based on cost-effectiveness analyses on statistically matched samples with physical functioning as the primary outcome measure, the study found that costs were lower when comparing equivalent people who moved into publicly-funded residential care homes in 1995, and similar to the more dependent type of person moving into care homes in 2005. Similar or lower costs combined with better outcomes mean that although extra care housing does not appear to provide a direct alternative, it can support some older people at risk of moving into a residential care homes in a cost-effective way.