Care and housing for vulnerable elderly.

There is a general belief that old age automatically brings infirmities, though this is by no means always the case. This edition of the Report on the Elderly investigates which elderly people are vulnerable. They include older persons living alone with multiple physical disabilities who receive little support from their immediate network.
Which older people make use of care services or live in special housing? Many older people live in a normal home and manage without care input. It is striking that many vulnerable elderly people do not receive any care or live in a home that is not suitable for their needs.

Where older people have multiple disabilities, the chance that they will be admitted to a residential home increases. For some older people, living independently with care input is an alternative; for example in a combined housing and care complex. This report assesses which older persons have access to alternatives to admission to a residential care or nursing home.

The Report on the Elderly 2004 is the sixth in the series of Reports on the Elderly compiled by the Netherlands Institute for Social Research/SCP at the request of the Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport.

This report was compiled in collaboration with the Longitudinal Aging Study Amsterdam (LASA) at VU University Amsterdam.