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Ageing well at home: the common answer of the city and social landlords

Summary

Such as the national trend, Angers’ population is getting older; in 2020, a third of its population will be 60 years of age or more. Consequently, the number of dependent people already increases, simultaneously with an arouse isolation and impoverishment. To come to grip with these issues, the city and the social landlords have decided to gather their skills and knowledge to set new goals about suitable housing to the ageing people in Angers. This commitment has been enshrined in a written agreement establishing rules to adapt and build social housing to the new needs of the elder people. Conceived thanks to the advice of ergotherapists, the houses are properly equipped with more technical equipment, easing the life of the tenants. Yet, this cooperation also concern the neighbourhoods and the local environments the older people live into. It highlights the necessity of having proximity services and public transportation close to the social housing to enable people having social inclusion. It also highlights the necessity to build partnerships with home help companies and home care programs to offer a wide range of services to the tenants of this new age buildings.

The main objective of this action is to allow the aged people to stay home as long as possible, leading a worthy personal life plan from an active retirement to progressive dependency.

Key facts

Main target group: Older people in general

Other target group(s): Senior tenants of social housing

Sector(s): Housing, Long-term care, Urban development

Desired outcome for older people:
Be mobile

Other issues the Age-friendly practice aims to address:
  • Ageism
  • Accessibility

Contact details

Name: Emmanuel Saffores

Email address: Emmanuel.SAFFORES@ville.angers.fr

Age-friendly practice in detail (click to expand):

Engaging the wider community

Project lead: Local authorities

Others involved in the project:
  • Social or health care provider

How collaboration worked: This collaboration was launched by the city’s social and urban services. They have ruled this program and have drawn its main orientations. Aware of the difficulties on the ground, and inspired by some collaborative and successful projects already achieved, they decided to convince the different social proprietors to act jointly. They met several times to discuss about their difficulties and the different things that they could provide to the project. Social landlords received an envelope of 30 000€ given by the city to help them start innovations and adapt their property stock.

Older people’s involvement: Older people were consulted during the planning process

Details on older people’s involvement: Indeed, some tenants of the social housing created committees to communicate with the social landlords about their wills and to speak out on the main issues that affect them. The main request that came out of these exchanges was to find a solution to palliate their rising loss of self-sufficiency. It is because they talked about it, and because they wanted the situation to change that this program was born.

Moving forward

Has the impact of this age-friendly practice been analysed: No

Do you plan to evaluate your age-friendly practice? Yes

Feedback:
Since the beginning of the project, more than 500 accommodations have been build, and they all are “age friendly”. In other terms, 500 households can now live in a house respectful of their increased needs (large doors, high electrical outlet not to lean forward, Italian shower …) and affordable. Yet, all the signatories agreed to prolong and enrich the experience. Indeed, the next program, will involve a particular focus on the interaction with the tenants. The idea is to know them better and to detect the risks situation, to orientate the people that need to other services (nursing home, hospitals..). Social landlords ‘agents will be in charge of this new mission of listening and guidance of the elder people.

Expansion plans:
The commitment taken by the city and by the social landlords will be repeated. Nevertheless, this new edition draws conclusions from the current experience to be even more age friendly. The signatories are working on three main themes: + A more individualised support: deepen the interactions with the tenants (see question above). + A better value of technologic innovations: technologies are a key to help the elder people staying independent. + A wider territory: for now the program was just in the city of Angers, would like to be a part of it, and to expand it.

Looking back

Reflections:
They used to be at the beginning of the project, for defining needs, yet the user comities were not included into the the drafting of the adaptation agreement of the social park. It could have been a great. Their involvement could have been useful for the city as well as the social landlords.

Challenges:
The diversity of the signatories, their different languages and cultures could appear as an issue. Yet, it turns out to be one of the main asset of this project. As the watchword was transparency, all the protagonists of the project wanted to collaborate, expressing themselves freely, sharing their doubts and their difficulties. A real skill exchanges has taken place in this project.