Abstract
This paper refers to an increased interest in older people in British housing research and literature. It explains the factors behind this increased interest and illustrates why a gerontological perspective in housing studies is needed. Reference is made in particular to issues of accumulation through housing, to housing histories and to the meaning of the home. In addition to defining areas where a clearer understanding is required the paper identifies the need for a more general re‐evaluation of age as a key variable in housing and of the way that older people are treated in studies of housing.