Meaning of Home in Later Life as a Concept to Understand Older Adults’ Housing Needs: Results from the 7 Age-Friendly Cities Pilot Project in Québec

Abstract

To support older adults’ desire to age in place, their housing needs must be well understood. However, little research has explored housing needs from older adults’ point of view. This article, based on the results of 49 focus groups (n = 392) and one case study from the Age-Friendly Cities Project in Québec, Canada, uses the concept of meaning of home in later life to explore older adults’ housing needs. An overview presents how older adults express meaning of home and what their needs are regarding housing and relocation. Finally, the implications for decision makers and stakeholders are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• meaning of home
• age-friendly cities
• aging in place
• housing
• relocation

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

The first author would like to thank Dr. Habib Chaudhury for his comments and review of this article.

FUNDING

This master thesis project was funded by the Joseph-Armand Bombardier Master Scholarship Program of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Notes

The eight domains of Age-Friendly Cities are: outdoor spaces and buildings, transportation, housing, social participation, respect and social inclusion, civic participation and employment, communication and information, and community support and health services.

http://www.vadaquebec.ca

The data from AFC-QC have been previously analyzed based on the 8 domains of the project. The analysis conducted on the MOH in later life is an additional analysis of the original data.

The quotations presented in this article came from French-speaking participants. The first author has translated the excerpts and prioritized the meaning. However, modifications have been made to adapt English language.