AN increased number of elderly and disabled people in Darlington need help to live at home, according to a report.

The report, by Darlington Borough Council's social affairs and health scrutiny committee, reveals a need for more specialist housing for vulnerable people in the area.

Although it is estimated that the population of Darlington will not increase dramatically in the next 15 years, it is thought the need for supported accommodation will rise.

Much of that accommodation will be needed by an ageing population.

By 2010, there will be an estimated 15 per cent rise in the elderly population, and between 1999 and 2011 there will be an estimated extra 500 people over the age of 85 in the borough.

As well as providing care homes for those people if they are no longer able to care for themselves, the council must also work out how it will provide care for people in their own homes.

There is already a crisis in the provision of accommodation for elderly people in the town, but if there are more pensioners in Darlington there will be further pressures on council care provision.

The council also needs to be ready to help people with learning disabilities who live with elderly relatives as their main carers.

When the carers can no longer continue their roles, the council will need to be able to provide support to allow the disabled people to live at home.

A survey by the local authority also revealed there were insufficient homes in the Darlington area adapted for disabled people.

A council spokesman said: "Our vision is to make Darlington a place where people want to live, work and are able to enjoy a high quality of life.

"For many people, this vision cannot be realised as easily as many of us take for granted. Increasing numbers of people in Darlington need support in order for them to enjoy the full benefit of their accommodation."

Among those groups identified as needing help with accommodation are drug users, teenage mothers and the homeless, as well as the elderly and people with disabilities.

A strategy to help those people to live at home with help will be discussed at a meeting in the New Year.