Welfare housing policies for senior citizens
The EU is presently facing unprecedented demographic changes that will have a major impact on society and economy. One important factor of demographic change are today’s longer life expectancy. The improved health profile of younger generations holds out the hope that senior citizens of the future will remain self-sufficient for longer and will thus be able to remain in their own homes, a trend already visible today. While high intensity care is likely to be increasingly concentrated towards the end-of-life period, cities and regions in the EU need appropriate social and housing policies and services to support senior citizens in their desire to live in their own homes. Overall objective / Objectif général The operation "WELHOPS – Welfare housing policies for senior citizens" aims at promoting better housing and living conditions for senior citizens in the EU. More specifically, it aims at collecting and benchmarking relevant regional experiences, identifying and transferring good practice and defining guidelines for planning and carrying out housing projects for senior citizens, which will be tested in a series of pilot activities. Expected results / Résultats attendus WELHOPS results in higher capacity and better know-how concerning housing of senior citizens in the participating regions. Improved policies and housing conditions support independence and foster a better quality of life in the urban context. The creation of a European network of experts and local actors ensures consistency and promotes communication, training, coordination and sharing of experiences among partners and also not participating regions, Activities include “regional diagnoses” to analyse the situation of housing interventions for senior citizens in the partner countries. Partners define a new Welfare Model and elaborate associated guidelines for the construction of economically sustainable housing interventions for senior citizens. Partners also develop a series of pilot projects to apply the new Model according to their own territorial, social, legislative and regional characteristics.