Abstract Social housing associations in the Netherlands are increasingly confronted with a growing number of older tenants aging in place. Yet, the existing housing stock often does not support the social needs of this demographic. The search for more suitable housing options is reflected in the growing focus on clustered housing within the housing policies of social housing associations. Clustered housing refers to residential buildings where multiple housing units are grouped together, with (a) shared communal space(s) designed to foster social interactions among residents. However, it remains unclear to what extent different types of clustered housing influence the frequency and nature of neighborly contact among older adults. To gain more insight into the types of clustered housing and the way residents interact with each other, analyses were conducted on survey data from 2,852 older tenants of the Dutch social housing association Woonzorg Nederland, residing in various types of non-clustered and clustered housing. The findings indicate that a small group of residents rarely engage in neighborly contact, regardless of the type of housing in which they reside. Housing type appears to influence the contrast between regular and (almost) daily contact with fellow residents. When controlling for personal characteristics, residents in most types of clustered housing have more contact with fellow residents compared to those in non-clustered housing types. Finally, some clustered housing types seem to promote friendlier contact between fellow residents, although this contact more often also includes negative aspects compared to non-clustered housing types.
Hamers et al. (Tue,) studied this question.