Understanding housing accessibility policies in five Swedish municipalities: A qualitative study

Description

Introduction
The home environment is a central health determinant for the growing population of older adults ageing in place. The ageing population, combined with high housing prices and accommodation shortage have put pressure on housing provision policies in Sweden. Moreover, to support active and healthy ageing of seniors, accessible home environments are required.

Objectives
This study aimed to gain an in-depth understanding of how municipalities currently address housing accessibility issues and to explore what types of policy solutions they consider for the future.

Material and methods
Five Swedish municipalities were selected to represent a diversity of population, housing provision approaches and geographical areas. To understand current housing policies, two key actors (e.g. public officials, housing adaption grant managers, city architects, etc.) from each municipality participated in semi-structured interviews (N=10). Subsequently, those key actors, two senior citizens and three researchers participated in a research circle to explore future policy solutions. Data were analyzed using content analysis.

Results
The interviews revealed common approaches to deal with housing accessibility issues such as regular renovations and maintenance, individual adaptations based on specific needs and seeking collaboration with private housing actors on housing provision matters. Possible measures suggested for the future included amending legislation to only allow the construction of housing according to strengthened accessibility standards, introducing economic incentives for seniors to move from housing with poor accessibility to more accessible accommodations and stronger national coordination of housing accessibility policies.

Conclusions
Municipalities struggle with the lack of accessible and affordable housing for the ageing population. The results suggest that collaboration needs to be improved between all actors involved in housing policies. The overall housing standard in Sweden is high, but preventive measures within the current law may be needed to strengthen the construction of more accessible and affordable housing for the population ageing in place.

Period	2021 Oct 20
Event title	SWEAH Milestone Conference
Event type	Conference