A note on suitable and healthy housing in the Netherlands

Housing is one of the eight domains of the concept of age-friendly cities or environments of the World Health Organization. This concept concentrates mainly on enabling active ageing and tapping the potential that older people represent for humanity. Proper housing is essential for the safety and well-being of older people and there is also a link between appropriate housing and access to community and social services in influencing independence and quality of life of older people. Given the importance of housing for older people, it looks at least a bit awkward that both the Global Age-Watch Index GAWI and Active Ageing Index AAI pay so little attention to the physical aspects of housing. The question emerges which sub-indices can be made available for GAWI and AAI to include suitable and healthy housing. In our contribution we are offering some suggestions.