The Impact of Housing Tenure in Supporting Ageing in Place: Exploring the Links between Housing Systems and Housing Options for the Elderly

The aim of paper is to reveal the link between the scope of housing aid designed to support ageing in place and the housing system. The main research question is whether the structure of the housing stock according to housing tenure has an impact on diversity and innovations in the supply of public housing subsidies and the housing options available to the elderly. The research is conducted on a sample of eight European countries that substantially differ in terms of their housing and welfare system: Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia and Italy. These countries were represented in the international project HELPS that primarily focuses on implementation of innovative pilot actions in selected EU states that would increase the autonomy of vulnerable people. After controlling for the effects of several external factors, the results show that the tenure-based structure of housing stock may have a significant impact on the dependent variable, which is the diversity and innovativeness of housing subsidies and options for the elderly. Specifically, in countries with a lower homeownership rate and a higher share of rental housing there is also a greater probability that the supply of housing subsidies and options available to the elderly will be wider and will involve more innovative features.