Abstract
We set out to investigate how satisfied the poor elderly Singaporean households in social housing are with their lives, especially in relation to their housing, in an attempt to find measures to improve, where possible, the life satisfaction of this group of elderly Singaporeans. We use archival and empirical research for our investigation. The results from 403 respondents to our survey are analyzed through logistic regression and factor analysis. We find that the life satisfaction of the elderly residents of social housing is very low. Furthermore we find that home modification that meets the requirements of the respondents will substantially improve their life satisfaction. Given that these elderly households neither have the right nor financial means to modify their housing units and precincts, it is incumbent upon the government, through the relevant authorities such as HDB, Town Councils and BCA to effect the necessary home modifications to create a more elderly-friendly physical environment to improve the life satisfaction of the elderly households in social housing in Singapore. This arguably is a social imperative which should not be subjugated to economic niceties as social housing is not a luxurious housing choice but the last safety net for basic shelter.
Highlights
Social definitions of elderly differ from one society to another
Binary logit modeling was employed to identify the aspects of life which are significant in determining the level of life satisfaction among the elderly people residing in public rental housing
Having identified the significant factors that affect the level of life satisfaction among the elderly living in social housing, it is important to ascertain if there is a gap between the importance of these factors to the elderly and how satisfied the elderly are with the factors
Summary
Social definitions of elderly differ from one society to another. According to World Health Organization [1], most of the developed nations have accepted the age of 65 as the threshold for the group of people termed el-How to cite this paper: Addae-Dapaah, K. and Juan, Q.S. (2014) Life Satisfaction among Elderly Households in Public Rental Housing in Singapore. Social definitions of elderly differ from one society to another. According to World Health Organization [1], most of the developed nations have accepted the age of 65 as the threshold for the group of people termed el-. How to cite this paper: Addae-Dapaah, K. and Juan, Q.S. (2014) Life Satisfaction among Elderly Households in Public Rental Housing in Singapore. This definition synchronizes with the statutory age specified by Housing Development Board (HDB) as well as the 2010 official retirement age in Singapore. An elderly person in this paper refers to one who is aged 65 years and above
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