An interesting article in Real Estate Capital on the senior living sector and how real estate lenders are viewing the opportunity.  Reputational risk and concerns around operator quality continue to create some reluctance on the part of lenders to back these schemes. Aside from challenges regarding availability of funding, we note that there are also planning issues which perhaps should be addressed to encourage development in the sector. Many ‘extra care’ schemes fall somewhere in between a traditional residential care home (C2 use) and a dwellinghouse (C3 use). The issue is important for planning authorities as their policies and CIL charging schedules will often seek affordable housing and financial contributions from development comprising C3 use, but do not do so for C2. Authorities will, therefore, be keen to categorise as much development as they can as C3, but this can affect the financial viability of the scheme. In some instances it has been accepted that the provision of as little as 2 hours care a week can take a proposal into the C2 use class, but this isn’t always accepted. One solution may be to create a new use class (or perhaps a sub-class of the C2 class) for over 55’s accommodation, regardless of the amount of care provided.