Author(s)

Kwame Addae-Dapaah, Quah Shu Juan

Department of Real estate, National University of Singapore, Singapore City, Singapore.
Knight Frank Pte Ltd, Singapore City, Singapore.

We set out to investigate how satisfied the poor elderly Singaporean households in social housing are with their lives, especially in relation to their housing, in an attempt to find measures to improve, where possible, the life satisfaction of this group of elderly Singaporeans. We use archival and empirical research for our investigation. The results from 403 respondents to our survey are analyzed through logistic regression and factor analysis. We find that the life satisfaction of the elderly residents of social housing is very low. Furthermore we find that home modification that meets the requirements of the respondents will substantially improve their life satisfaction. Given that these elderly households neither have the right nor financial means to modify their housing units and precincts, it is incumbent upon the government, through the relevant authorities such as HDB, Town Councils and BCA to effect the necessary home modifications to create a more elderly-friendly physical environment to improve the life satisfaction of the elderly households in social housing in Singapore. This arguably is a social imperative which should not be subjugated to economic niceties as social housing is not a luxurious housing choice but the last safety net for basic shelter.

Public Rental Housing, Home Medications, Life Satisfaction, Factor Analysis, Binary Logit Model

Addae-Dapaah, K. and Juan, Q. (2014) Life Satisfaction among Elderly Households in Public Rental Housing in Singapore. Health, 6, 1057-1076. doi: 10.4236/health.2014.610132.