Social Capital and Neighbourhood in Older People’s Housing

Abstract

Older people’s social networks (family, friends and neighbours) affect their capacity both to avoid social isolation and to obtain practical support with everyday tasks. Isolation often follows bereavement or a decline in health, and may contribute to depression and even to cognitive decline. Through a small-scale study of the social environment in specialised housing schemes for older people in Britain, this paper examines how the different types of social capital available to elders in retirement housing affect the support and social opportunities open to them. It considers how providers of retirement housing can best help residents to sustain and maximise positive social contacts and the different roles played by both staff and by residents’ self-organisation and mutual aid. Through analysis of the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing, residents in retirement housing are shown to have characteristics which make them disproportionately vulnerable to loneliness and depression. Reduced public funding for staff and facilities presents challenges to housing providers and to communities in helping such residents.