Abstract
The purpose of this research was to assess environmental barriers faced by low-income elderly renters in their homes and to propose residential design and managerial solutions to support their aging in place. The authors visited 23 rental homes occupied by low-income elderly residents in order to assess the entrances, kitchens, living rooms, and bathrooms and interview the residents to identify their needs with regard to changes or improvements to their homes. Results revealed that bathrooms had more barriers than the other interior spaces; all participants had at least one environmental barrier in their bathroom. Several critical environmental barriers were also found in the entrances, kitchens, and living rooms. This study also assessed how many of the 11 home environmental barriers appeared in residents’ homes and found that, on average, elderly renters had 5.26 environmental barriers in their homes. Low-income elderly renters in community-dwelling units, which rarely offered maintenance services, expressed more concerns related to environmental barriers than did renters in senior-housing units. When asked about their home-improvement desires, the elderly renters referenced their bathrooms most frequently. These empirical research findings strongly support the need for regular examinations of environmental barriers in low-income rental housing for elders and a comprehensive design and managerial strategy to support low-income elderly renters who wish to age in place.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 15-34 |
| Number of pages | 20 |
| Journal | Journal of Architectural and Planning Research |
| Volume | 36 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Publication status | Published - 2019 Mar 1 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Suk-Kyung Kim, PhD, is an associate professor in the Department of Interior Architecture and Built Environment at Yonsei University, South Korea. She holds BS and MS degrees in housing and interior design and a PhD in architecture. Previously, she was an associate professor of interior design and the director of the interior design program in the School of Planning, Design, and Construction at Michigan State University, where she completed a regional affordable housing study for the Mid-Michigan Program for Greater Sustainability funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. She specializes in green and affordable housing, green building, and crime prevention through environmental design.
Funding Information:
This project was supported by project number NC.X-297-5-16-170-1 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture?s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of NIFA. The authors would like to recognize Beacon Management Corporation and the Greensboro Housing Coalition (GHC) for sharing their insights about service to elderly populations and community needs and for assisting in the sample recruitment for this research project.
Funding Information:
This project was supported by project number NC.X-297-5-16-170-1 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA). Its contents are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of NIFA. The authors would like to recognize Beacon Management Corporation and the Greensboro Housing Coalition (GHC) for sharing their insights about service to elderly populations and community needs and for assisting in the sample recruitment for this research project.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, Locke Science Publishing Company, Inc.
All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes
- Architecture
- Geography, Planning and Development
- Environmental Science (miscellaneous)
- Urban Studies