Political career

Greengross was an independent crossbench member of the House of Lords from 2000 until her death in 2022 and co-chaired five All-Party Parliamentary Groups: Dementia, Corporate Social Responsibility, Bladder and Bowel Continence Care, Social Care and Ageing and Older People. She was the Vice Chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on Choice at the End of Life and Longevity, and was the Treasurer of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Equalities. She was also Chair of the cross-party Intergenerational Fairness Forum. In December 2006, it was announced that she would be a Commissioner for the Equality and Human Rights Commission. Whilst Chair of the Association of Retirement Housing Managers, Baroness Greengross made the following statement in the House of Lords on 23 April 2012:

"It is difficult, not least for the providers of schemes, who are dealing with people who are often prepared to spend 12 or more hours a day focusing on those issues and who can make amazing barrack-room lawyers – I do not want to be insulting – because they have so much time to concentrate on that. So it is a difficult as well as an important issue. Housing designed for older people whose needs change as they age faces an almost built-in conflict of interest. They need more services as they age, so the costs are going to rise as more care is provided. Their income tends to be less over the years. They wish to reduce the cost but they need more services. Older and frailer residents are more costly, so when residents manage the schemes themselves they may wish to sell to active, fit and therefore younger people."^{[citation needed]}