Elderly people benefit more from living independently in sheltered housing than in nursing homes and hospitals, the Irish Council for Social Housing (ICSH) heard in Tralee yesterday.
Independence empowered people and restored their self-reliance, making them "mentally more alert" with "greater esteem and dignity".
The focus on nursing homes and hospitals to cater for the elderly was detrimental to the quality of life of older people, and a new "non-institutional model" was needed, the 350-delegate conference heard yesterday.
However, assistance for housing projects for the elderly was confined to bricks and mortar and only private "profit- making" nursing homes were eligible for grants for care and staffing.
Those associations which provided sheltered housing were surviving on ad-hoc grants and fund-raising. In contrast, the State this year would pay €110 million to "private profit-making nursing homes" while community housing associations had no revenue scheme, the ICSH executive director, Mr Donal McManus,said.
The Minister for Housing and Urban Renewal, Mr Noel Ahern, said housing associations were "the vehicle" for accessing funding. Obstacles in the development of the sector remained in the lack of a defined funding scheme for management and support services, and his Department was pursuing a solution.
Sr Celestine Farrissey, Charleville Sheltered Housing for Elderly, said social housing was the way forward for the elderly. People with their own front-door key had independence. There was "absolute health and social gain" to be had.
Social housing empowered people, restored their self-reliance and people in these units were "mentally more alert".