Seniors are not happy about the prospect of senior rental. It has too many flaws
Solving the problem of “fourth floor prisoners” may prove to be too much of a challenge for municipalities. Seniors are calling for many changes in senior rental regulations and pointing out gaps.
The state drew attention to a group numbering up to one million people. “Fourth floor prisoners” is a descriptive term for elderly or disabled people who are trapped in their own apartments on the upper floors of apartment buildings or tenement houses without an elevator.
The lack of elevators in older buildings is due to old regulations and savings. In the times of the Polish People’s Republic, but also earlier, blocks and tenement houses were usually built with a maximum of 4 floors. According to the law at that time, a passenger lift was obligatory only from the fifth floor (over 4 floors), which was intended to reduce construction costs. Today, these savings are taking their revenge.
Instead of an elevator – moving. The commune will provide the premises and what next?
Poland cannot afford to ignore the problem or build an elevator in every older building, although many housing communities decide to do so. However, a simpler solution is to move the senior to the ground floor – to an apartment provided by the commune.
Seniors living in their own apartments interested in improving their unjust fate will be able to conclude a lease agreement with the commune for premises from the commune’s resources, provided that they also rent the apartment in which they previously lived to the commune. This is what senior leasing is all about.
What does a senior lease guarantee? The apartment stays with the senior
The senior will not have to make his own contribution. The rented premises are to be smaller, easy to maintain and adapted to the everyday needs of older people – ground floor, no thresholds, elevator, alarm buttons, location close to services. The rent is to be lower than on the private market. The terms of the lease – including the amount of fees – will be set by local governments. There will be no rigid income limit applicable throughout Poland.
Priority should be given to people who live in unsuitable premises – e.g. high floors without an elevator, lack of heating, difficulties in moving around. The regulations also provide for the possibility of renting for senior couples and older people living, for example, with a disabled family member.
The commune will be able to sublet an apartment it owns from an elderly person, without fear of changing the legal status of the apartment, which will remain its property. If an elderly person resigns from the municipal apartment, the apartment he owns will be returned, and in the event of the senior’s death, the apartment will remain in the estate.
Seniors point out the shortcomings. There are many concerns about the consequences of senior leasing
However, seniors and interested non-governmental organizations have raised a number of concerns regarding senior rentals. In their opinion, the draft law does not guarantee the appropriate standard of apartments or their location, which may worsen the situation of seniors.
The lack of minimum statutory requirements for the accessibility of the premises offered by the commune to people aged 60+ raises objections, such as the lack of thresholds, the lack of specifying the width of the door or easy access from the bedroom to the bathroom.
The project also does not specify the requirement of proximity to a primary care doctor, pharmacy, transport, shop or proximity to family members’ homes. Local governments and experts indicate that the key challenge remains the lack of an appropriate number of ready-made, available municipal premises and the costs of their adaptation.
Government project senior lease is at the stage of advanced consultations and corrections.
