Cohousing for elderly

In 2015 a profound change in the financing of the Dutch health care system was initiated. Pur-pose of the reforms was also to enable elderly to live at home as long as possible. One of the consequences of the 2015 reforms was that care providers closed care homes. It was argued that care providers could use vacant care homes to house independent living elderly of lower and middle income groups seeking a break out from loneliness, and willing to live their live in the vicinity of other elderly without abolishing the independence, thus in a cohousing group for elderly. This mixed methods study aims to gain insight into the conditions that influence the continuity of cohousing groups for elderly. A survey was sent to 114 cohousing groups for elderly, yielding a net response of 52%. The out-comes were then used to select 6 cohousing groups who participated in in-depth interviewing. Informal care is in all interviewed group provided by family caregivers and it was not the co-housing’s responsibility to look after chronically ill members. For elderly, an important motive to live in cohousing was the social connection with others in the group. This also creates a feeling of safety. However, a main reason for cohousing groups in highly urbanized areas appears to be the possibility to bypass the regular waiting list for social housing. The continuity of cohousing groups seems to depend on the regular organization of activities, and therefore membership fees need to be included in the rental agreements.