The Elderly and Housing Cooperatives

In a new series of articles about the many benefits co-operative housing provides to its members, we explore a Senior Citizen Housing Co-operative in Canada. Click here to read about their struggle and eventual success at building a housing co-operative that fits the unique needs of its members. Cliquez ici pour lire la version française.

SOPHIA is not only a girl's name, it is also a short form for an innovative technology for elderly and handicapped: Social Personal Care - Help In All (SOPHIA) situations. It enables senior citizens to stay as long as possible in their homes. Facing the demographic development, especially in the western world, of a more senior population there could be increasing demand in the future for such a concept. 

There is an increasing interest in European countries in such a tool. It is more humane to respect the wishes of the great majority of the elderly who wish to stay as long as possible in their home and this method could be used for cooperative housing as well. Members of housing cooperatives, for example, could be encouraged to form small solidarity groups with their senior neighbors.

In April this year Sophia could be presented to the European Parliament and on 18 July 2008 Sophia Consulting GmbH will receive an international award for innovative home-assisting technology from a British organization for innovative technologies, ACCESS-IT. This award recognizes organizations and individuals as innovators for providing technologies for a better life in the home.

Please click here to read a presentation about the SOPHIA project.

This article by Jill Eversole Nolan, Northeast District Director of the U.S. Cooperative Extension System and Thomas W. Blaine, Extension District Specialist, Community Development, Ohio State University Extension Wooster, Ohio documents how housing cooperatives can be a successful tool for providing affordable, comfortable, and high-quality living to an aging population.Click here to read more.

The Co-operative Housing Federation of Canada (CHF Canada) has been working on seniors’ issues in housing co-ops for many years. The goal of CHF Canada is to raise co-op housing members’ awareness of the issues senior face and to propose ways to adapt to the changing needs of these valuable members. In 1997, CHF Canada published a video and a booklet called "Aging Together, Aging in Place". These publications approach the issue from the individual’s point of view. In 2001, CHF Canada continued its work with the following two publications: "Seniors Housing Co-ops - making them work, keeping them strong" and "Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia – the challenge for housing co-operatives". These two publications deal with the challenges a co-op may face as an organization in light of senior specific issues.
Seniors housing co-ops whose membership are exclusively with members older than 55 years old or housing co-ops with seniors members are confronted with several questions such as adapting the buildings and units for security, continuing as a community, planning the future and defining how far to go to accommodate its senior members. These questions have been discussed with senior’s focus groups and these ideas are contained in these publications.
To order these publications, go to the Co-op Housing Bookstore website, click here to go there now. 

'Housing and Services for People with Special Needs' is the third in the series of ICA Housing publications designed to help organizers and local leaders with members who may be disabled and aged, for example. It was edited by Claus Hachmann and Dr. Hans H. Munkner. Click here to read the manual.