ABSTRACT
The older women who were interviewed for the fieldwork either coresided with their adult children or lived alone. These single-elderly households were further divided into two categories - women who lived independently with their own finance in the market sector housing; and women who lived on state benefits including residency in a public home or a Silver Housing project. Focusing on these three housing (welfare) sectors served the purpose of differentiating the relevance of factors such as their socioeconomic status, housing tenure and type and degree of family support and relations (both with their spouse and with their adult children). Almost all of the informants in the family sector lived in an owner-occupied single-family home, either owned by themselves or their adult children (sometimes after a transfer of the ownership). Most of the informants in the market sector were also chosen from home owners for the purpose of drawing a clear distinction from low-income renters in the state sector. This was designed to aid analysis of the issues which were raised in the previous chapter and to enable comparisons of the older residents across the three sectors.
