People are due to be able to live longer in their own homes with the support they require as part of a proposed expansion of care and housing services across North Yorkshire over the next decade.
The county is seen as a leading light nationally in providing support for people with a wide range of care, support and housing needs through North Yorkshire Council’s much-lauded Extra Care programme.
A series of housing developments tailored to the needs of communities has been introduced to ensure older and disabled people remain living independently in more than 1,500 flats in towns and villages across the county.
The Extra Care schemes offer both purpose-built housing and on-site care workers available around the clock, and some developments also host facilities such as a library, a shop or a café.
But an increasingly diverse range of needs has led to the proposed new 10-year programme, which would see more Extra Care facilities being built alongside similar services for younger adults who may need care.
The plans will be considered by the council’s executive at a meeting on Tuesday next week (21 October 2025).
North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for health and adult services, Cllr Michael Harrison, said:
We have been at the forefront nationally for providing support through our Extra Care programme, which has helped more than 6,000 people during the past 20 years to continue to live independently.
But we recognise that our approach needs to evolve and demands for adult social care are changing and we are presented with some very real challenges given the area that we cover and also that we have an ageing population in North Yorkshire.
The proposed new plan will help us keep pace with the increasing demands, allowing us to tailor the support we can provide to our communities in the county. This includes the growing number of younger adults with disabilities and mental health issues, who need more support to live in their own home.
We will consider the plans carefully when the executive meets next week to ensure that we can target our resources as effectively as possible, and that we can offer the very best support while providing the best value for our taxpayers.
The proposed 10-year blueprint takes into account the vast rural areas of North Yorkshire while also targeting resources where they are needed the most.
There are more than 500 people who are on waiting lists after expressing an interest to live in an Extra Care scheme in the county, with the highest levels in Scarborough and Harrogate. However, there is also significant demand in deeply rural locations such as in the northern areas of the Yorkshire Dales, including Wensleydale and Swaledale.
While the focus of the Extra Care programme has been on older people since its inception in North Yorkshire more than 20 years ago, the new plans are due to help meet the increasing needs of the working age population who require specialist support to live independently.
The new approach would adapt the current model of Extra Care facilities, which each traditionally have 60-bed accommodation of one or two-bedroom flats across 28 sites in North Yorkshire, to provide more flexible schemes to cater for demand.
A typical Extra Care scheme costs in the region of £20 million to develop, with funding coming from the owner and operator of the scheme, a national grant from Homes England as well as a contribution from the council.
In return for this contribution, the council is able to seek nominations to rent accommodation to those most in need, while also gaining significant savings due to the lower cost of providing support through Extra Care facilities when compared to other alternatives for residential care.
A wide-ranging consultation gathered views of Extra Care residents, partner organisations including the NHS and officers from the council’s health and adult services team.
The proposed new model would be centred on three main themes to ensure Extra Care residents have their own front door to their accommodation to allow independent living, a high-quality place to live, and care and support when they need it.
The plans are due to see the introduction of more flexible types of accommodation, including Extra Care Plus schemes to support people with higher levels of need. Extra Care Mini facilities could also be introduced with smaller facilities to meet demand in more rural locations.
Village models are also detailed in the proposed new approach to provide large sites spanning more than five acres that would include support, community and council services.
The new programme would also help to provide supported housing and care for people with learning disabilities, autism or mental health needs.
The plan would focus on commissioning care that is needed for people in single homes or small blocks of apartments to help tailor to their individual needs.
The proposals would see individual tenders considered for each scheme that would then each need approval from elected members.
Each scheme would need full planning approval and would provide dedicated accommodation to local communities through focusing on those in the greatest need.
