Important as adequate housing is to all people in providing protection from the elements and in offering space for sleeping, cooking, eating, recreation and leisure, it is insufficient unless set within a framework of basic infrastructure and public services. For the elderly, who are increasingly unable to meet their own needs and who are often dependent on others for household services, infrastructure components become indispensable to personal well-being.
2. We can ill afford to warehouse and institutionalize an increasing segment of the population. The present segregated housing for older persons either provides substandard accommodation or else draws a high level of duplication of amenities.