Housing and accommodation for the elderly. International experience

Remaining in one's usual home when one's age is very advanced and mobility problems and the need for help arise, presents increasing difficulties derived from a multidimensional set of situations: availability of public and private home services, community support, proximity services, voluntary action and especially support in the family environment. The intensity of care required and the current extension over time of situations of dependency generate support and care needs that require responses from multiple spheres, with an ecosystemic character and coordinated from the point of view of case management.

This article offers a brief review of the experience accumulated in other countries following the life itinerary of ageing people: from the responses offered when they wish to move house, for a variety of reasons, but very much centred on changes in their lives (widowhood that generates loneliness, too much space for one or two people...) to the needs derived from situations of dependency, stopping in some cases at specific solutions for people with cognitive impairment.