Housing Exclusion: Elderly People Facing the Crisis

This paper aims to provide a brief overview of the housing conditions of the elderly people in Europe, focusing on the conditions of elderly living alone. The key objective of the article is to analyze the living conditions and the residential problems of the elderly in European countries over recent years. It is based on the idea that these households were already in a vulnerable situation that is exacerbated by the crisis. The analysis of poverty and residential needs in old age is particularly relevant in countries of southern Europe, where family solidarity is one of the pillars of the welfare system. This has meant a bigger pressure on elders, attending their families economically and socially in a climate of unemployment and social cuts backs. The analysis is based on a statistical comparison of residential conditions and life of the elderly in European countries. In a more detailed way the situation of the elderly in Spain and specific housing problems suffered by this population will be analyzed. This way we are not only obtaining a picture of the residential and social situation of older people, but also detecting their needs and residential inadequacies. In addition to this, we could also complete a more general picture about social exclusion.