Management approach to social housing to support the welfare of the elderly

Abstract

This paper deals with the topic of social housing which supports seniors. Its aim is to identify the key aspects of social housing management with the older population as a target group. The link between effective functioning of the public sector and citizens’ welfare is evident. Therefore, in this paper special emphasis is placed on the managerial approach to social housing as a way of maximizing performance in delivering public services, with a special focus on satisfying the housing needs of the elderly. As the role of the public sector mainly applies to social housing, this area is of particular interest in this paper. However, other public governance interventions which are not directly connected with the delivery of public services are acknowledged (such as setting legal frameworks for the private sector in terms of housing regulations). As summarized by Hwang et al. (2019) previous research on housing from a customer’s perspective can be categorized into four broad areas: housing behavior, housing satisfaction, policy, and design. The authors also indicate fairly unexplored areas, such as adjustments in local policy to meet the growing demand for social housing for seniors, current housing stock assessment, housing modifications, including those involving technology. These aspects also refer to the challenges for institutions and entities which govern or manage housing stock. First, this paper discusses various management aspects at different governance levels (state, municipality, and housing organization) which are applicable to social housing in general, as well as with reference to older people. Second, it provides some statistics concerning the housing and the economic situation of the elderly population in European countries.