Older people are no strangers to housing problems. According to a report presented this Tuesday by Provivienda, Nearly one in four households headed by people over 65 are in a situation of residential exclusionthat is to say that it lacks an adequate roof, in particular due to problems of fuel poverty and difficulties in maintaining the house. The organization specializing in promoting access to housing also notes the increase in the number of elderly people living alone and warns that the current housing crisis can have long-term consequences and increase the risk of residential exclusion in old age for younger generations.
The study indicates that 22.7% of households over 65 suffer from residential exclusion, a percentage which has increased in recent years – in 2018 it was 16.5%. This is a slightly lower proportion than the average of 27.6% of families who find themselves in this situation in the entire Spanish population, but there are still 13.8% of elderly people who find themselves without sufficient resources to survive comfortably once they have paid for their accommodation. 18.4% who cannot keep their home at an adequate temperature and 18.3% who have humidity or leaks, for example. “Aging well should not be an inherited privilege, but a guaranteed right. The data in the report shows that housing is a structural pillar of well-being: when it does not meet adequate conditions, it becomes a factor of exclusion,” notes Gema Gallardo, co-general director of Provivienda.
Even if 87.8% of over-65s own a home, the study warns that renting constitutes an additional risk factor. Among tenants in this age group, the proportion of households experiencing social exclusion rises to 53.5%compared to 19.6% among those who are owners. Additionally, 44.7% of those who rent do not have sufficient resources to adequately survive after paying the monthly rent. “Those who have been unable to access homeownership in old age have more difficulty meeting their residential needs, as the rising rental market and short-term contracts expose older people to scenarios of high vulnerability, particularly when incomes are low or people suffer from a disability or limitation,” the report said.
From Provivienda they specify that owning a home “does not guarantee a situation without difficulties”, but they warn that the gap between owners and tenants and the residential exclusion of the elderly could worsen in the future due to the difficulties in accessing housing that younger generations encounter. “Incomes have hardly increased for two decades and access to property is increasingly difficult and delayed. This development indicates that “many people could reach old age with less residential stability”predicts the study published this Tuesday under the title A key to our future: housing and aging communities.
Without looking too far ahead, the report warns of another very current trend: the proportion of elderly people living alone has more than doubled in just over three decades, going from 16.6% of households over 65 in 1991 to 47.2% currently, i.e. almost half. Below this age group, only 19.9% of households are made up of a single member. Provivienda warns that this increasing individualization increases the risk of unwanted loneliness. “In the case of older people, unlike young people, unwanted loneliness is strongly associated with the way they live together and the composition of their housing,” explains Elena Martínez, head of research and evaluation of the organization.
The study adds that the housing conditions of older people are of particular importance if we take into account the fact that 96.6% age at home, compared to only 3.4% in retirement homes. “Many people prefer to face inadequate conditions of habitability, price or environment rather than entering a collective establishment, because institutions are often perceived as places of renunciation in which people lose control of their lives and move away from their known and familiar environment,” explains the report, which recalls that housing is also “a place of identity, security and belonging”.
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