A public health perspective on housing accessibility for senior citizens: Estimating effects on group and population levels

Background: Aggregated occupational therapy knowledge on accessible housing and its support for activity and participation is of great value to inform public health policy. Making use of existing databases of environmental... [ view full abstract ]

Background:
Aggregated occupational therapy knowledge on accessible housing and its support for activity and participation is of great value to inform public health policy. Making use of existing databases of environmental barriers in the housing stock, this project aimed to display the severity of housing accessibility problems for senior citizens with different functional limitation profiles (FLPs) and investigate the potential effects of eliminating five selected environmental barriers (frequently targeted in individual housing adaptations) in the housing stock throughout Sweden.
Method:
Environmental barriers (60 items) of 1,021 dwellings were assessed with the Housing Enabler instrument. FLPs representing large groups of senior citizens were used in simulated analysis to generate accessibility problem scores for dwellings of different type and building period. Effects on the Swedish housing stock of eliminating five selected environmental barriers were estimated for each FLP.
Results:
In median, 31-32 environmental barriers were present in all dwellings, causing accessibility problems for all FLPs – however more substantially for FLPs including mobility-device use. By elimination of five selected environmental barriers the accessibility score would improve with 3-39% depending on type of FLP and building period of the dwellings. For elimination in the total housing stock, 22-82% of all dwellings would need to be addressed.
Conclusion: Despite high housing standard in the Swedish housing stock the results show substantial accessibility problems for senior citizens with functional limitations. To make housing accessible large-scale and systematic efforts are required.
Application to Practice:
The results can be used to inform public health and housing policy.