Recklinghausen district – Generation over 65 will grow by 25 percent by 2035: IG BAU warns of a lack of senior housing

Circle RE. More and more seniors – but also enough age-appropriate living space? In the Recklinghausen district, the number of people older than 65 could grow to 173,500 by 2035 – 25 percent more than in 2017. Their share of the population would then be 30 percent (2017: 22 percent) . The IG Bauen AgrarUmwelt (IG BAU) has pointed this out.

The union relies on a demographic forecast by the CIMA Institute for Regional Economics – and calls for more efforts to be made in the creation of apartments suitable for senior citizens: “Lift instead of stairs, wider doors for walkers and wheelchairs, barrier-free showers – only a small part of the apartments in the district are for them Rapidly growing generation over 65 suitable. That has to change, ”says Georg Niessing. The district chairman of IG BAU Emscher-Lippe-Aa speaks of a “demographic necessity”. It would not only be necessary to build additional senior citizen apartments. There is also a lot of catching up to do with the age-appropriate renovation of existing apartments. “If the pensioner generation is not given greater consideration, there is a threat of a gray housing shortage in many places in a few years”, emphasizes Niessing. This problem is already exacerbated by the corona pandemic, because older people in particular have to spend a large part of the day at home. The state credit institute for reconstruction (KfW) is offering grants and loans with its “Age-appropriate renovation” program. The funding volume of 150 million euros this year is not enough, criticizes IG BAU. The federal government must at least double the funding to promote senior living. However, it doesn’t look like that at the moment: According to the budget, only 130 million euros are available for the age-appropriate renovation next year. In the end, the quality of life of thousands of people in the Recklinghausen district is at stake. “It cannot be that a pensioner only has to go to an expensive nursing home because outpatient care fails because of the senior-friendly equipment in his own apartment,” Nießing explains.

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