The Future of Care Is Not Just More Care

Why care, housing and workforce innovation need to work together

Supportmatch Homeshare | Thought Leadership

A recent report commissioned by Cornwall Council asks an important question: could changing the way we think about care help deliver economic growth?

At Supportmatch, we believe there is an equally important question: could changing the way we think about care, housing and community support help create a more sustainable way for people to live independently – while also helping the workers our communities need to afford to live and work locally?

Traditional care remains essential. But it should not be the only answer. The future requires a broader ecosystem of prevention, housing, companionship, community support and professional care.

Care is an investment, not simply a cost

Research undertaken by Alma Economics for Cornwall Council highlights the wider economic and social value of adult social care. The research estimates that adult social care supports approximately 22,700 full-time equivalent jobs in Cornwall and generates around £991 million in economic value through its direct and wider effects.

The study also estimates that every £1 spent on adult social care generates around £2.37 in socioeconomic benefits.

This changes the conversation. Good support creates more than a service: it can contribute to independence, wellbeing, employment, stronger communities and support for families.

But changing how we value care should be accompanied by changing how we deliver support.

We cannot meet tomorrow’s needs simply by expanding yesterday’s model

Cornwall illustrates a challenge facing many parts of the UK. Its population is ageing and demand for adult social care is expected to increase. The research cites forecasts suggesting that Cornwall’s independent adult social care workforce may need to grow by approximately 30-35% by 2035.

Recruiting more professional care workers is essential, but workforce expansion alone cannot be the entire solution. We also need to ask how people can be supported earlier, before their needs escalate, and how formal care can remain focused on those who genuinely require it.

From crisis intervention to prevention

There is an important space between someone living completely independently and someone requiring substantial formal care.

An older person may not need a carer, but may benefit from companionship. They may not need residential care, but may value the reassurance of another person in the home. They may need conversation, help with shopping, light practical support and greater connection to everyday life.

Loneliness, isolation and difficulties with everyday tasks can gradually undermine independence. Earlier, appropriate support can help some people remain independent for longer.

This is where community-based models such as Homeshare can form part of a broader preventative ecosystem.

Homeshare is not a replacement for care

Homeshare is not personal care, nursing care or a substitute for regulated professional services where those services are required.

Instead, it can complement them. A carefully assessed and matched Homesharer lives in the home of an older person or another person who may benefit from companionship and agreed practical support.

In return for affordable accommodation, the Homesharer provides an agreed amount of companionship and practical help around the home.

The Householder can gain companionship, practical assistance and a reassuring presence. The Homesharer gains access to more affordable accommodation. Families may gain reassurance, and existing housing is used more effectively.

Affordable housing is also part of the care economy

There is another important economic dimension to Homeshare: access to affordable housing can affect whether people are able to take up employment in a community.

The cost-of-living and housing affordability pressures facing workers are increasingly connected with workforce pressures in health, social care and public services.

An NHS organisation, care provider or local authority may successfully recruit someone to a role, but recruitment is only part of the challenge. That person must also find suitable accommodation within reasonable travelling distance of work and at a cost they can afford.

For NHS staff, social-care workers, council employees, teachers and other key workers, high rents and shortages of affordable accommodation can make relocating for a new position difficult.

This is where Homeshare has the potential to create value on both sides of the arrangement.

One housing solution, multiple benefits

Across our communities, many people have one or more spare bedrooms in their homes. At the same time, other members of those communities are struggling to find affordable accommodation.

Homeshare can bring these two needs together through a carefully assessed and safeguarded matching process.

For the Householder, the arrangement can provide companionship, agreed practical support and a reassuring presence. For the Homesharer, substantially lower accommodation costs can make living and working in an area more financially achievable.

For an employer, this could mean that a suitable candidate who might otherwise struggle to relocate because of local housing costs has another accommodation option to consider.

For the wider community, an existing housing resource – a spare room – is put to productive social and economic use.

Housing and workforce planning should be connected

If Cornwall and other areas need substantially more health and social-care workers in the coming decade, workforce planning should not be considered separately from housing.

We should ask two simple questions:

• Where will those additional workers live?

• Can they afford to live there?

Recruitment strategies for the NHS, local authorities and social-care providers could therefore benefit from looking beyond conventional staff accommodation. Homeshare could form one part of a broader range of affordable housing options for suitable workers who value living as part of a household and providing companionship and practical support in return for lower accommodation costs.

It will not suit every worker or every Householder. But where the right match exists, it can potentially connect workforce recruitment, affordable housing and preventative support.

Turning existing housing into community infrastructure

A spare bedroom is not simply unused space. With appropriate assessment, safeguarding and matching, it can become part of the infrastructure that supports a local community.

It can help a Householder remain connected and independent. It can help another person access affordable accommodation. It can potentially widen the geographical pool from which employers recruit. And it can make better use of housing that already exists.

Spare Housing Capacity → Affordable Accommodation → Greater Workforce Mobility → Improved Recruitment & Retention → Stronger Local Services → More Resilient Communities

In this sense, Homeshare sits at the intersection of housing, prevention, workforce development and community resilience.

A potential opportunity for the NHS and local authorities

This creates an opportunity for NHS employers, councils and other public-service organisations to think differently about recruitment and workforce support.

Alongside advertising a vacancy, organisations could potentially signpost suitable employees and new recruits towards Homeshare as one of a range of local accommodation options.

Imagine a newly recruited NHS or social-care worker considering a position in Cornwall but concerned about accommodation costs. Rather than facing the conventional rental market alone, that person could also explore whether a suitable Homeshare arrangement is available near their workplace.

The employer gains another potential recruitment and retention tool. The worker gains access to a potentially more affordable way of living locally. The Householder gains companionship and agreed practical support. And the community makes better use of existing housing capacity.

The future should not treat care, housing and workforce shortages as three entirely separate problems. We need to explore solutions capable of addressing them together.

Changing the conversation

Perhaps we need to stop thinking about adult social care as a single service that begins when somebody reaches a particular level of need. Instead, we could think of a continuum:

Independent Living → Prevention → Community Support → Homeshare & Companionship → Formal Home Care → Specialist Care

Different people will enter that continuum at different points, and their needs will change over time. A sustainable system should be capable of responding accordingly.

Cornwall Council’s research makes a compelling economic case for recognising the value of care. The next challenge is to recognise the value of prevention, independence, affordable housing and innovation too.

At Supportmatch, we believe Homeshare can be one part of that future: not replacing professional care, but working alongside communities, families, employers and public services to help more people remain connected and independent while opening up more affordable ways for others to live and work locally.

Homeshare can create a double economic dividend: helping people remain independent while helping the workers our communities need to afford to live and work locally.

References

The MJ – Changing how we think about care can help deliver economic growth<br>https://www.themj.co.uk/changing-about-care-help-deliver-economic-growth

Cornwall Council – Care sector economic value research<br>https://www.cornwall.gov.uk/council-news/health-wellbeing-and-social-care/care-sector-delivers-nearly-1-billion-to-cornwalls-economy-and-offers-growing-career-opportunities/

Alma Economics – Value of Adult Social Care in Cornwall<br>https://proudtocarecornwall.org.uk/app/uploads/2026/07/Value-of-adult-social-care-in-Cornwall-Final-report.pdf