Abstract
On 17 June 2021, the Government of the Republic of Slovenia adopted a Bill on Long-term Care. This legislative activity also raised the question of the existence and effectiveness of a legal environment to promote social infrastructure development for housing and care of older adults. Social infrastructures include the facilities in which long-term care services are provided. Therefore, the new legislative proposal also raised the issue of the regulation of this social infrastructure and the housing and care solutions as a part of the social infrastructure since they benefit individuals and communities. Furthermore, in line with the growing trend towards deinstitutionalisation, the legal environments should enhance alternative housing solutions for the elderly. The purpose of this article is to describe the foundations of the social infrastructure for older adults and examine the legal basis for its provision. The research belongs to legal geography studies, which means that the substance of laws and materialisation in space are considered. We identified two primary spatial–legal barriers to overcome, which are (a) the separate treatment of the housing and health aspects and (b) the absence of the guarantee schemes for the construction of housing-with-care solutions. The results would be helpful for the optimal organisation of integrated care, which individual research groups in Slovenia are studying.
Highlights
Long-term care (LTC) is one of the areas that has become increasingly prominent in the research of social policies of economically developed countries (Dong et al 2021; Moon et al 2021; Wang et al 2021)
Social infrastructure includes facilities or services in the absence of which a community is at a significant socioeconomic disadvantage compared to those communities that have access to them (Freisfeld 2016)
The social infrastructure can contain all uses and activities that contribute to a higher quality of living
Summary
Long-term care (LTC) is one of the areas that has become increasingly prominent in the research of social policies of economically developed countries (Dong et al.2021; Moon et al 2021; Wang et al 2021). This is primarily due to the ageing population and the increasing proportion of the elderly population needing assistance in their daily lives. 21% of the population in Slovenia is aged 65 years and older, and projections predict that the proportion will reach 30% in 2050. The ratio of people aged 80 and older will increase from 6% today to 11.4% by 2050
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