Senior living community
In a senior living community (also: senior household ) share the elderly an apartment or a house to live together there. Residents in need of care are looked after by a professional care service.
Expressions
Elderly people who are either already retired or about to retire live together in a senior citizens' shared apartment. The motivation is that they don't want to live alone in old age . The residents share an apartment or house with separate apartments and additional common rooms such as a large kitchen or a garden. Usually the seniors move in together when they are still agile. If a resident becomes in need of care , a professional nursing service usually takes over the care.
A distinction between supervised and independently run residential communities : from a (more or less professional) assisted senior living community, in particular of a home-like care in the sense of a stationary household , the so-called plus-WG demarcates - a well (and not exclusively) residential community geared towards senior citizens, in which the residents live together independently and without external help. The plus stands for an age from 50 years. The residents of a Plus flat share are still very active and do a lot together. A combination of young families and senior citizens is the “multi-generation shared flat” or a multi-generation house . Several generations live together with the aim of neighborly togetherness.
Henning Scherf , who founded an old people's flat share with his wife and 10 other families back in 1987, in which they both still live today, and who publishes about it, recommends the model also for the goal of a " dementia flat- sharing community ". He now has different variants z. Sometimes visited, advised or witnessed for weeks so that he could imagine this form with his own ailment.
Dissemination and acceptance
Although life is associated in a WG especially with young people, can imagine 18 percent, according to a Forsa survey of over 60 Germans, in a residential community to live. 64 percent are of the opinion that there should also be shared apartments for people who are no longer very young. Finding roommates and suitable housing is difficult. There are now internet platforms that arrange shared apartments for senior citizens. The apartment for a senior citizens' flat share must be barrier-free , the environment must be suitable for senior citizens with the infrastructure , in particular the range of shops, cultural facilities and green spaces.
In the meantime, “shared apartments with care services” for elderly people in need of assistance and care are also legally recognized as an alternative to full inpatient care in almost all German federal states. The federal home law, however, has very different regulations depending on the country.
Germany financially supports the establishment of residential communities for senior citizens. People in need of care who are involved in setting up an outpatient group can apply to their care insurance fund for start-up funding of up to EUR 2,500. In addition, the care fund pays up to 4,000 euros for measures to improve the living environment . Since 2012, residential groups with outpatient care can also be subsidized within the framework of the Care Reorientation Act with a residential group surcharge of 214 euros per month. If necessary, seniors can the basic security office of the competent social security office that needs-based provision in the housing allowance instead of the city or town, housing allowances apply.
The most famous communard in a senior citizens' flat share is the former mayor of Bremen, Henning Scherf . As early as 1987 he moved into a communal house with eight roommates. He and his wife live in their own apartment there. The house was designed to be wheelchair accessible and has an elevator device. Scherf sees the shared apartment as an opportunity not to become lonely in an aging society.
background
Society is aging and the number of people over 65 will rise by five million over the next two decades. In the past, older people lived with extended families until they died. Today they are often left alone after their children have moved away and their partner dies. In 2006, 37 percent of women aged 55 and over and 17 percent of men lived alone. From the age of 75 it was 62 percent of women and 24 percent of men. Increasing loneliness is a cause of age depression. Living in a senior living community can counteract this.
literature
- Claudius Hasenau, Lutz H. Michel (ed.): Outpatient assisted living communities - design, finance, implement. VINCENTZ Network, Hanover, 2nd edition, 2017, ISBN 978-3-86630-431-4 .
- Henning Scherf: All under one roof . In verdi-public. Issue 10/2010-Generations pp. 1–2 ( also online. ) (There article on barrier-free living, technical aids, Bad Kreuznach cooperative)
- David Thiele: Flat-sharing communities for senior citizens and people with disabilities: founding, backgrounds, paths. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, Wiesbaden, 2016 ISBN 978-3658117740 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Multi-generation flat share: "A network across the whole city". In: Stern.de. May 28, 2007, accessed January 23, 2020 .
- ↑ Harald Czycholl: Senioren-WG: It doesn't have to be the home. In: welt.de . September 7, 2015, accessed October 7, 2018 .
- ^ Forsa survey: Opinions of Germans on shared apartments for older people , Gemeinschaftliches-wohnen.de
- ↑ Alternative forms of living. Nursing homes; Residential group surcharge; Start-up financing for newly founded residential groups with outpatient care. In: Online care guide. Federal Ministry of Health, August 2, 2018, accessed on February 21, 2020 .
- ↑ Home care benefits. Retrieved November 27, 2018 .
- ↑ http://www.tagesspiegel.de/zeitung/der-privatier/679664.html
- ↑ http://www.bpb.de/wissen/5MJEAP,0,0,Alleinlebende_nach_Familienstand.html