Name(s):
Unserviced homes for the elderly
Under-satisfactory old age pensioners' accommodation
Nature
Progress in making the dwelling environment more appropriate has not kept pace with progress in extending the average human life-span. There is a need for the environment in which old people live to be of qualitatively higher standard to compensate for their somewhat sudden exclusion from participation in the productive aspects of modern industrial society and their consequent segregation. This is exacerbated by the demise of the 3-generation family structure and also by the preponderance of small houses being built. Married women are increasingly going out to work, and cannot look after aged relatives. Modern houses are expensive and beyond the means of many old people. Housing facilities tend not to take account of old people's needs: accessibility to collective social and medical services and isolation from noise and the usual stress of city life, while at the same time keeping touch with their families and friends.
Claim
In 1999, despite their problems, elderly people in the European Union complained less about their accomodation than younger ones, even though elderly people living alone were more dissatisfied than the others. Just 16% of people aged 65 and over in the EU claimed to be unhappy with their accomodation, as compared to 18% of Europeans aged 16 and over.