Senior co-housing communities offer an in-between solution for older people who do not want to live in an institutional setting but prefer the company of their age peers. Residents of co-housing communities live in their own apartments but undertake activities together and support one another. This paper adds to the literature by scrutinizing the benefits and drawbacks of senior co-housing, with special focus on the forms and limits of social support and the implications for the experience of loneliness. Qualitative fieldwork was conducted in eight co-housing communities in the Netherlands, consisting of document analysis, interviews, focus groups, and observations. The research shows that co-housing communities offer social contacts, social control, and instrumental and emotional support. Residents set boundaries regarding the frequency and intensity of support. The provided support partly relieves residents’ adult children from caregiving duties but does not substitute formal and informal care. Due to their access to contacts and support, few residents experience social loneliness. Co-housing communities can potentially also alleviate emotional loneliness, but currently, this happens to a limited degree. The paper concludes with practical recommendations for enhancing the benefits and reducing the drawbacks of senior co-housing. Original article at MDPI; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16193776
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Purpose - Housing associations make too small a contribution to society, the government has to step in too frequently because of maladministration, and the associations’ executives are often unaware of the far-reaching impact of their decisions. These are the conclusions of new academic research conducted by Jan Veuger of Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM). In his dissertation, he asserts that in numerous cases there is no correlation between social and financial objectives. The Dutch House of Representatives debated the results of the report Ver van huis from the Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry on Housing Associations in early December 2014. Design/methodology/approach -After extensive exploration of the literature and PhD studies on the period from 2005-2009, the research design inspired based on the grounded theory, which has a certain bias as a result of the extensive literature study. In the line of thinking of the grounded theory, interviews with directors more or less contracted uninhibited according to a narrative method. Afterwards these interviews, independent of the researcher, thematic and labeled by a single Delphi method be submitted to an expert group which created a storyline. The results of this Delphi method have been submitted to a peer group of directors. Then these conclusions in a survey presented to 60 selected directors and the subsequent conclusions. There has thus been more than a triangulation of research than just interviews, Delphi method and survey. Hypotheses are thereby omitted because of the difficulty of fitting in within the chosen research design inspired by grounded theory. Findings -Why thisqualitative thesis 'Control of housing associations in consistency with social values'? To understand and to discover patterns about the how and why of the functioning of corporations in society as they do now. This qualitative study is about the search for ideas, backgrounds, motives, resistors and motives and is therefore suitable for the following question: witch contradictions are there in the social values that underlie housing associations that affect the way the are governed? The overall summary conclusions to answer the central question is: Directors, at the highest level thinking about how to deal with values ensure they drive on their own, monitor, know the consequences and take responsibility. Research limitations/implications - At his request Stef Blok, Minister for Housing and Kingdom Relations, has received the thesis Material Immaterial (Veuger 2014) on December 4, 2014. On December 11, 2014, the Minister decided to change its proposed policy through the establishment of an inspection model in which the financial and social objectives of the corporations are tested and assured, with the Minister as the final responsible. The parliament has unanimously agreed. Originality/value - My contribution to science is also showing patterns of Board behavior, whether or not in conjunction with societal and financial values of housing associations. This has not been previously investigated or established. This contribution complements include studies on culture of housing associations (Dreimuller 2008 and Sinke 2014) or only driver behavior (Heemskerk 2013) or history of housing corporations (Beekers 2012) or about the behavior of housing associations (Koolma 2009)
Housing associations make too small a contribution to society, the government has to step in too frequently because of maladministration, and the associations' executives are often unaware of the far-reaching impact of their decisions. These are the conclusions of new academic research conducted by Jan Veuger of Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University (RSM). In his dissertation, he asserts that in numerous cases there is no correlation between social and financial objectives. After extensive exploration of the literature and PhD studies the research design inspired based on the grounded theory, which has a certain bias as a result of the extensive literature study. My contribution to science is also showing patterns of board behaviour, whether or not in conjunction with societal and financial values of housing associations. This contribution complements studies on culture of housing associations (Dreimüller, 2008; Sinke, 2014) or only driver behavior (Heemskerk, 2013) or history of housing corporations (Beekers, 2012) or about the behaviour of housing associations (Koolma, 2009).
Professionals van woningbouwcorporaties en gemeentes die zich bezig houden met verduurzaming hebben vragen over hergebruik van afvalhout uit hun (renovatie) projecten. De doelstelling van dit voorstel is het onderzoeken van de mogelijkheden om hout te hergebruiken door gebruik te maken van innovatieve digitale productietechnieken, en om implementatiestrategieën hiervoor te ontwikkelen voor publieke organisaties in de bouwsector, in het bijzonder woningcorporaties en gemeentes. Strategieën omvatten concrete voorstellen om a) afvalhout van woningen in te zamelen en te verwerken; b) waarde toe te voegen aan houtafvalstromen door middel van digitale productie; c) de betrokkenheid en acceptatie van huurders te vergroten bij circulaire verwerking van hout in nieuwe toepassingen; en d) goede toepassingen voor een circulaire economie te realiseren. Het project onderzoekt aard en omvang van houtafvalstromen uit woningrenovatie en identificeert de mogelijkheden voor het hergebruik van specifieke fracties daarvan voor (lokale) toepassingen. Uit voorgaande projecten blijkt dat digitale productie mogelijkheden biedt om stedelijk afval om te zetten in zinvolle circulaire producten. Digitale productie maakt de (lokale) creatie van unieke prototypen en grootschalige toepassingen mogelijk. Het onderzoek wordt uitgevoerd in vier werkpakketten. De eerste identificeert de aard van huishoudelijk houtafval (volume, houtsoort, verzamelproces) door zorgvuldig cases van Ymere en Rochdale te bestuderen. Daarnaast worden er een raamwerk van indicatoren gedefinieerd om projectresultaten te kunnen evalueren. Het tweede werkpakket onderzoekt welke toepassingen kunnen worden bedacht, gegeven de beschikbare houtfracties. In het derde werkpakket wordt een aantal case studies uitgevoerd voor concrete projecten van de deelnemende woningcorporaties. Deze applicaties hebben als doel het potentieel van digitale productie met houtafval te laten zien, rekening houdend met het perspectief van bewoners. Het biedt belangrijke inzichten in de uitvoerbaarheid van concrete toepassingen uit teruggewonnen hout. In het vierde werkpakket worden alle projectbevindingen gecombineerd in een set implementatie strategieën voor publieke organisaties in het stedelijk domein.
Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) can play an important part in the energy transition by providing a year-round net positive energy balance in urban areas. In creating PEDs, new challenges emerge for decision-makers in government, businesses and for the public. This proposal aims to provide replicable strategies for improving the process of creating PEDs with a particular emphasis on stakeholder engagement, and to create replicable innovative business models for flexible energy production, consumption and storage. The project will involve stakeholders from different backgrounds by collaborating with the province, municipalities, network operators, housing associations, businesses and academia to ensure covering all necessary interests and mobilise support for the PED agenda. Two demo sites are part of the consortium to implement the lessons learnt and to bring new insights from practice to the findings of the project work packages. These are 1), Zwette VI, part of the city of Leeuwarden (NL), where local electricity congestion causes delays in building homes and small industries. And 2) Aalborg East (DK), a mixed-use neighbourhood with well-established partnerships between local stakeholders, seeking to implement green energy solutions with ambitions of moving towards net-zero emissions.
