The Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA) has warned that older people could fuel a housing crisis on a similar scale to the pensions crisis. The TCPA fear the projected increase of 3.5 million new households by 2021, 175,000 households a year, will continue to outstrip supply. Of the 175 new households a year almost 130,000 can be directly associated with the growth in the adult population, partly a result of people living longer. The director of the TCPA Gideon Amos said: “Much as with the looming pensions crisis, we are facing a serious shortfall in future unless we act now to provide more homes for the next generation,” he said. He added: “The gap between the equity rich and those locked out of the property market will widen - unless we provide more housing that is well planned, well designed and well built.”