What's in a name? Similarities and differences in international terms and meanings for older peoples' housing with services

Discussion of housing for older people that is combined with provision of various support and care services is confounded by the lack of consistent terminology. The diversity of terms and meanings relating to housing with services for older people confounds systematic analysis, especially in international comparative research. This paper presents an analysis of terms identified in literature from the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand reporting types of housing with services, under the umbrella of ‘service integrated housing’ (SIH), defined as all forms of accommodation built specifically for older people in which the housing provider takes responsibility for delivery of one or more types of support and care services.