Social Sector-led Elderly Housing in Denmark and Japan

Denmark has been a pioneer in social-sectorled elderly housing. It is especially known for a high level of participation from the social sector and a generally high standard of retirement housing design and service delivery. The social sector provides for 20% of social housing in Denmark whereas the government provides for just 2%. To understand the landscape of elderly housing in Denmark, it is helpful to look at the institutional and policy contexts that supported such development. Elderly housing provision in Denmark is underpinned by four main policy principles: government responsibility, ageing-in-place, deinstitutionalisation and privatisation of elderly care. In a very different geographical and cultural context of Japan, a similar strand of thinking has taken shape about what constitutes a socially, psychologically and physically healthful living environment for older people who are not able to remain within their own residences and require some level of assistance and medical care.