A study of the applicability of sole elderly housing in Hong Kong

Abstract

Due to the baby boom effect and the improvement of medical services, people's life expectancy is generally extended, leading to population aging problems. With the improvement of education level, the middle-class elderly account for a larger proportion of the elderly population in Hong Kong, and thus, the housing needs of the elderly are also changing. Although the government has implemented various social policies to cope with the housing needs of the elderly, for example elderly have priority in applying for Public Rental Housing. However, the relevant policies do not cover middle-income senior citizens. We cannot deny that the housing needs of the elderly are different from other age group. The facility in the elderly housing would be different from normal housing. Therefore, the Hong Kong Housing Society launched the pilot project, Senior Citizen Residence Scheme (SEN), which aims to develop sole elderly housing with integrated service for the middle-income elderly. Since the sole elderly housing is relatively new and innovative project in Hong Kong. It is worth to carry out a comprehensive investigation on the effectiveness of applicability of the sole elderly housing. This paper will focus on assessing the effectiveness of sole elderly housing in achieving ageing-in-place and healthy ageing in different aspects. Also, this study will assess the weakness of the sole elderly housing. The result of the investigation would be providing recommendation for the appropriate housing proposal for Hong Kong middle class elderly.