More than three-quarters of the people of North Holland believe that priority should be given to creating suitable housing for seniors. This is evident from a representative sample that NH commissioned together with Kieskompas. One of the respondents is Bram van Dam, he would like to exchange his single-family home in Broek in Waterland for an apartment. But suitable housing is not available in his village. And moving out of the village is not an option. “My whole social life takes place here.”
Older people often ‘stuck’ in a house that is too large – NH News
The story of Bram van Dam seems no exception. He knows a number of examples in the village of elderly people who are left alone and still live in the house where they once started their family. “The people I speak to think the same about it, they would like to move to a smaller home,” says Van Dam. “But where should they go?” He knows that suitable housing for seniors is not available and will not be available soon because the priorities of project developers are not there. “They prefer to build big houses from which they earn more. I understand that, that makes sense,” says Van Dam.
Elderly Association ANBO
Renate Evers of the association for the elderly ANBO recognizes the story from Broek in Waterland. She confirms that the problem is alive among the members of the union and that it is often called about. “There are many plans to do something about it, but it is going very slowly,” says Evers. In addition, many elderly people shy away from moving if it turns out that they are not only losing out in terms of space, but that they will also have to spend a lot more money on a smaller home. “That’s why many seniors stay where they are,” explains Evers.
“As long as the houses are acceptable to us, it shouldn’t be a tiny little thing”
The latter is not always true. Our example from Broek in Waterland emphasizes that he is willing to do anything for a decent apartment. “If we sell our house, we can pay a decent rent, says Van Dam. The home owner is quite prepared to make room for a family. “But then the house must of course be comfortable and not too tiny.”
Growing shortage
The ANBO lobbies like crazy and tries to find a hearing in all political forums for the sound of the elderly house hunter. Not only new construction is advocated, but also attempts are made to simplify regulations. This makes it easier to convert existing buildings into clusters of homes that are suitable for the elderly.
“It turns out that when one senior moves, it leads to four to seven other moves”
There are many plans, but things are going much too slowly, according to the ANBO. “It has sometimes been calculated that 400,000 homes for the elderly must have been built by 2040, which is quite a few,” says Evers. She goes on to say that research has shown that the move of one elderly person leads to seven other moves. Extra, suitable homes for the elderly seem to be a valuable means of promoting mobility.
State of NH
This article is part of our research project ‘State of NH’. To this end, NH Nieuws commissioned research by Kieskompas into subjects that residents of North Holland consider most important. We organize themed weeks around the four topics most frequently mentioned in the survey (housing crisis, affordability, livelihood, health care and nature) in which we discuss the topics in detail. For an explanation of the accountability of the research, see here justly.
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