Living at Home Longer a Guide to Housing in Old Age
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Aging AT HOME Living at home longer A guide to housing in old age Foreword Dear Reader, Would you like to grow old in the familiar surroundings of your own home? Or maybe you would like to try something new and move into shared housing, perhaps even living among young families. Whatever you decide, I want my policies to help you live an independent, self-determined life at any age and any stage of life. With this publication, we would like to inform you about the many opportunities for elderly people to arrange their home according to their needs. In addition to structural alterations and technical aids, this can include neighbourhood help and local voluntary support. Contacts in the immediate area as well as the social engagement of local residents – many of them older people themselves – are just as important as the amenities available in the home itself. And then there are the families, of course. Families who care for elderly relatives provide an invaluable service. Organised networks and support services can help ease the burden on them – helping the helpers, so to speak. 3 Remaining as independent as possible in old age and preferably in our own home can be made possible, even if we are reliant on support and care. But to make it happen, we must rely on others who help. Those helpers need to know that there is someone who can look after them. This is why I believe that we need to help the helpers so that, when the time comes, we can all live the way we want to live right up into old age. Dr Franziska Giffey Federal Minister for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth 4 Contents Foreword 3 1 Viewing housing and neighbourhoods as a single space 8 1.1 Shared Housing, Self-Determined Lives programme 10 1.2 Contact Points for the Elderly programme 11 1.3 Social Housing in Old Age programme 11 2 Demographic change and housing 13 2.1 Adapting housing to older people’s needs 15 2.2 Liveable housing, liveable neighbourhoods 16 3 Looking at housing from a structural, technological and social perspective 17 3.1 Accessible accommodation in old age 17 3.2 Planning and designing the age- appropriate home 19 3.3 Targeted planning of major conversion work 22 3.4 Finding professional housing advice 22 3.5 Finding qualified tradespeople and firms 24 3.6 Technical aids 28 3.7 Staying in your familiar surroundings for as long as you possibly can 33 3.8 Staying in your own home longer with neighbourhood help 35 5 4 Special forms of housing for people in old age 40 4.1 Living with others: shared housing forms 43 4.2 Assisted living: services in the home 44 4.3 Sheltered housing: assisted living in a residential home 44 4.4 Self-determined living, even when in need of extensive care: shared housing and communal living for those reliant on long-term care 46 4.5 Residential nursing homes: all-round services and support 47 5 Lighthouse projects 49 5.1 Self-determined living at home 49 5.2 Shared or communal housing 54 5.3 Ambient-assisted housing cooperative 58 5.4 Self-determined living, even when in need of long-term care 62 5.5 Living in a residential nursing home 68 6 Support services: living at home longer with help 70 6.1 What kinds of help do you really need? 71 6.2 Coping with day-to-day life: services available in the home 71 6.3 Help in the event of impaired health: nursing care keeps you safe and secure 75 6 7 Funding 79 7.1 Where can I get funding for age- appropriate conversions to my home? 79 7.2 Which conversion costs or nursing aids are funded by health insurance or long-term insurance funds? 80 7.3 Assistance for people in need of long-term care 81 7.4 Benefits orf family members providing care 84 8 Further information 85 8.1 Publications issued by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth 85 8.2 Literature 86 9 Useful contacts 93 7 Viewing housing and neigh- 1 bourhoods as a single space As people get older, they spend more and projects take in shared housing, age- more time in their homes. Their housing appropriate home conversions, ambi- arrangements are key to ensuring quality ent-assisted homes, local support and of life, happiness and wellbeing – in old advisory services, neighbourhood help age even more so than in younger years. schemes, the provision of social services Most elderly people today would like to and improving living conditions to help be able to stay in their familiar surround- people stay in their homes by offering ings for as long as they can. This is the family carers a range of options that case even if they are ill and need care and provide them some relief. These issues support. The aim of our “Wohnen im highlight the fact that housing in old age Alter” (Housing in Old Age) programmes is not just a matter of accommodation, and projects is thus to promote independ- but also of local surroundings, infrastruc- ent, self-determined living, both in old ture, social contacts and integration. age and in all phases of life. The focal points of the various programmes and 8 Housing in old age: a shared responsibility Not only policymakers, but also the crafts and trades sec- tor, municipal authorities, the housing industry, senior citizens’ organisations and civil society can contribute to providing comfortable housing for the elderly and enabling them to participate in social life. 1 Viewing housing and neighbourhoods as a single space 1.1 Shared Housing, The model projects take varied approach- es depending on the specific area of focus. Self-Determined Lives One such area of focus concentrates on programme forms of shared housing that permit inde- pendent and self-determined lifestyles, especially for residents who are either old Older people are showing increasing or very old. Another concentrates on interest in new forms of shared housing – housing projects geared to older people living both with peers and also with with low incomes and a resident mix of younger people in multi-generation people from differing generations and homes. Since late 2015, the “Gemein- social groups. schaftlich wohnen, selbstbestimmt leben” (Shared Housing, Self-Determined Lives) The model programme places particular pilot programme has promoted selected importance on establishing close links housing projects that serve as best-prac- between the housing projects and the tice examples and foster replication. The local community and environment. The project developers range from private idea is to ensure that the projects enhance building consortia to housing companies, quality of life in the respective municipal- associations and municipal authorities ities, urban neighbourhoods and rural who all design and implement model areas – and that the projects themselves projects to provide shared housing in benefit in return, thus improving prevail- various forms. ing conditions to enable longer, self- determined lives for the people living there. 10 1 Viewing housing and neighbourhoods as a single space 1.2 Contact Points for 1.3 Social Housing in the Elderly programme Old Age programme Under the “Anlaufstellen für ältere Men- The “Soziales Wohnen im Alter” schen” (Contact Points for the Elderly) (Social Housing in Old Age) programme programme, some 300 projects were comprised the following components: launched countrywide to provide local solutions to promote independent, M Competition for ambient-assisted self-determined living in old age. This living enables people to remain in their familiar surroundings up to a great age. The pro- M Initiative to train tradespeople in jects encompass services such as support, providing age-appropriate, accessible care and encounters, age-appropriate housing home and building conversions, and initiatives to train local volunteers and M Project funding: neighbourhood establish networks between voluntary help schemes and social services helpers and organisations. In a society where many family members and friends no longer live nearby, other forms of local support and networking structures are important for people young and old. 11 1 Viewing housing and neighbourhoods as a single space A wide range of stakeholders were involved – civil society, senior citizens’ organisations, the housing industry, the crafts and trades sector, and Länder (state) and municipal authorities. The pro- gramme has been a great success and continues to have an effect – innovations in housing technology, tradespeople who are well-trained and skilled, new neigh- bourhood help networks and support structures all benefit older people in both the short and longer term. Tip More information along with practical examples from the different programmes is available online at: www.serviceportal-zuhause-im-alter.de 12 Demographic change and 2 housing The term demographic change describes grow to 21.8 million (6.2 million of them a series of processes that alter the struc- over 80) by 2030. ture of a country’s population: (Source: Federal Statistical Office) M Life expectancy is increasing and German society is growing older. This people are living longer includes the country’s migrant popula- tion, especially the “guest workers” who M Birth rates continue to remain low came to Germany to work and also the large number of repatriated ethnic Ger- M The number of older people in the mans. Many have long made their homes overall population is on the rise in Germany and, contrary to their original plans, now intend to stay. Today, 9.7 per- Our altered society cent of people in Germany aged over 65 While in 2015 some 17.3 million people have a migrant background, and the in Germany were aged 65 and older figure is rising.