Japan’s aging society had already imposed a huge burden on the nation even before the COVID-19 pandemic added new problems to the mix. The pandemic is causing people to go out less frequently and many older people are dying alone in their homes.
This phenomenon has become so pervasive in Japan that there are three words for it: kodokushi (lonely death), koritsushi (isolated death) and dokkyoshi (death when living alone).
In Japan, once there has been a dead body in a house or apartment, no matter whether the person died a natural or unnatural death, the house becomes a jiko bukken (stigmatized property).
This causes a big drop in the value of the property and for this reason many Japanese landlords refuse to rent to older tenants.
However, the problem of older people not being able to rent a home is not exclusive to Japan — it is just the same in Taiwan.
According to a survey conducted by the Taipei-based Tsuei Ma Ma Foundation for Housing and Community Services, as many as 90 percent of landlords are unwilling to rent to older people because they are afraid that they can easily have accidents or even die at home, which would turn their property into a “haunted house.”
This situation puts many older people in the dilemma of not being able to rent a home, even though they have enough money to pay the rent.
Everyone ages and might end up not having anywhere to live because of their age, so how can the problem that older people face in renting a home be solved?
We cannot depend on kindhearted landlords to fix it, so the government must pay serious attention to older people’s housing needs.
The government should take the initiative by encouraging and guiding owners of hotels that are out of business or lying vacant to turn their properties into housing for older people.
With ready-made structures and facilities, they can enter the market without major modifications and are suited to the Taiwanese preferred habit of “aging in place.”
The government could also provide guidance for converting dormitories and other buildings at schools that have closed due to the falling birthrate into long-term care facilities for older people.
The government could also cooperate with private rental businesses to lease large buildings from landlords and convert them into apartments for older people, creating opportunities for business transformation and employment, while at the same time helping older tenants who find themselves at a disadvantage in the rental market.
Being unable to find a place to live is detrimental to older people’s physical and mental health, and it prevents social welfare resources from being smoothly deployed.
As Taiwan becomes a more aged society, if there is no proper planning for settling and providing for older people, everybody would end up finding it hard to rent a home.
Let us hope that the government will consider the challenge of meeting the demand for rental housing for older people an opportunity rather than a crisis.
Wei Shih-chang is an engineer in the information industry.
Translated by Julian Clegg
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