Linköping to start providing a new type of senior care

It will combine the best features of home-assisted care and a nursing home

Linköping municipality is changing its elderly care provision. Service houses and municipal sheltered housing will be converted into the so-called development assistance-assessed sheltered housing. This means that it will now be easier for those who need a serviced apartment to get care. This was decided on 20 May by the senior citizen’s committee of the Swedish municipality with the new type of service to be introduced in two years, that is May 2023.

What is development-assessed sheltered housing?

According to the official website of the City of Linköping, this is a form of housing, which can be granted after an individual needs assessment and which takes over when his or her condition no longer allows for staying at one’s own home. However, it is meant for people who do not require round-the-clock care either.

It is a form of housing for older people with adapted apartments who primarily need home care and who no longer feel safe to stay at home in ordinary housing. An aid-assessed sheltered housing can, for example, offer shared meals, cultural activities and socializing. 

On the other hand, this type of housing will not provide medical care and residents will still have to turn to their health centres for those type of needs. In essence, it means that this will be a service designed to provide more social comfort and assistance, thus reducing isolation without compromising one’s autonomy and privacy needs.

“By introducing development assistance-assessed sheltered housing, we are lowering the threshold and making available what is today referred to as a service house for more people. Today, the service houses are for people who need personal care on a daily basis, but in the future these will be for more people. It will be easier to get a service apartment,” explained Liselotte Fager (KD), chair of the senior citizens’ committee.