Ageing in Place: Successful Housing Community for Elderly in Taiwan - A Case Study of Taipei City
ABSTRACT: Since 1993, elderly population (aged over 65) has rapidly increased in Taiwan. According to the CEPD (Council for Economic Planning and Development) projection, by 2017, the elderly population in Taiwan will exceed 14% of total population, and Taiwan will officially become the “aged society”. Changes in population structure and family component will influence the social-economic status such as medical and social welfare system in the world as well as in Taiwan. The idea of “ageing-in-place” has been promoted by the WHO as an approach in responding to the ever increased older population phenomenon. Providing sufficient and proper housing units is considered as the priority. Studies identified that older people’s housing needs will become more diverse in the future and housing developments will be one of the prosperous industries.
Both public and private sector has been provided housing units for elderly in Taiwan since 1990s. The Ministry of Internal Affairs initiated a program that promoted private
participation in community development for the elderly in 2004, but it was failed without any successful project and had to terminate the program by 2008. For the private sector, more than a dozen of residential unit developments are mostly located in Taipei due to the highest density of elderly population distribution. However, the overall average occupancy rate is less than 70%. Clearly, there are some doubts and questions regarding whether the existing elderly housing supply could meet the actual demand. Before clarifying the potential demand of elderly housing market and reasons for its failure, it will be risky to promote any large-scale apartment project for elderly in Taiwan.
Therefore, this study will start from a thorough literature review intending to analyze successful key factor and possible reasons for low occupancy rate of existing elderly housing in Taipei from four aspects, organizational management, financial plan, housing design and project delivery. By predicting the potential demand of elderly housing community, the final part of the paper could expect to offer recommendations for future development projects. Keywords:
