Housing-related Well-being in Older People: The Impact of Environmental and Financial Influences

an article by Joan Costa-Font (London School of Economics and Political Science) published in Urban Studies Volume 50 Number 4 (March 2013)

Abstract

With the ageing of populations in Europe, one can expect new pressures on the existing housing stock to accommodate those older individuals with mobility problems; at the same time, housing assets are expected to be called upon to guarantee financial security for older home owners.

The accessibility and suitability of housing, and the financial security that housing provides, may exert an independent influence on well-being; to what extent either factor prevails in influencing well-being has important policy implications.

This paper empirically examines the impact of investment and environmental housing influences on satisfaction with housing in a population of older people.

Data are used from the European country which had the greatest number of home owners at the time of the survey (Spain), and where at the same time older people rely heavily on informal care-giving. Robust evidence is presented to suggest that satisfaction with housing in old age is indeed independently associated with environmental influences.

Although home-ownership does improve well-being related to housing, home equity does not exhibit a significant and independent effect.

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