ABSTRACT
As populations age across Europe, ageing in place grows in significance as a strategy to support health and well-being and to ensure the sustainability of health and social care systems. However, the necessary housing stock is not fit for purpose. Ageist tendencies in policy development, and an incomplete understanding of the role and value of the home environment in shaping people’s lives, throw up barriers to improvement. New narratives and practical tools are needed to inspire policy debate and stimulate investment in improvements at the requisite scale to deal with current and future demand for age-friendly dwellings. This chapter discusses the contribution made to this transition by the Homes4Life project funded by the European Union. It discusses the factors that contribute to the problems currently experienced, outlines the vision for future age-friendly homes developed by the project and explains the taxonomy and performance indicators drawn up to create a common reference framework for research, policy and practice. The chapter also discusses the development of the Homes4Life certification scheme, a central outcome of the project, which is designed to stimulate investment by providing a tool for verifiable, replicable assessment of the quality of new and existing homes.
