Suggested Citation: Cieśla, A., & Cieśla, J. P. (2019).

Housing as a
Challenge for the Ageing Population: The Case of Poland. In Ł. Tomczyk &
A. Klimczuk (Eds.), Between Successful and Unsuccessful Ageing: Selected
Aspects and Contexts (59–78). Kraków: Uniwersytet Pedagogiczny w
Krakowie. DOI: 10.24917/9788395373718.3

AGNIESZKA CIEŚLA1

JAN P. CIEŚLA2

Housing as a Challenge for the Ageing

Population: The Case of Poland

Abstract: This chapter aims at describing the role of housing

in the ageing population, on the example of Poland, which is
one the fastest ageing country in the world. This issue is
significant because housing well suited to the needs of older
people means lower expenses in medical and social care.
Seniors living in proper conditions remain not only longer
healthy, but they may also stay longer active in the labor
market. Housing adoption to the needs of an older population
means a particular challenge for Poland, where the majority of
the housing stock was created in socialism and is inhabited by
large by older people. It is crucial to raise awareness of age-
friendly housing among the seniors, their relatives, architects,
and policymakers. This purpose serves the first model
apartment for seniors in Poland, which was created by the
chapter’s authors.

1
Agnieszka Cieśla, Warsaw University of Technology, Faculty of
Geodesy and Cartography, Poland, [email protected]
2
Jan P. Cieśla, “Despite the Age” Foundation, Poland,
[email protected]
Key words: Age-friendly Housing, Seniors’ Needs, Central
and Eastern Europe, Socialism, Housing Stock

Introduction
The primary goal of this chapter is to discuss the role of
housing in the ageing population, on the example of Poland.
Undoubtedly, the maladjusted to the older people needs
housing poses a great challenge for the Central and Eastern
Europe (CEE) where the intensity of the ageing process is
particularly pronounced. Poland is no exception in this group,
and the country has one of the fastest ageing population in the
world. Housing poses one of the keystones of the Age-
Friendly Cities concept introduced by the World Health
Organisation (WHO) in 2007 (WHO, 2007), what indicates its
importance in keeping people active, healthy and independent
throughout the life course.
In the first part of this chapter, attention is given to the
process of ageing taking place in the CEE area. The values are
being presented not only in relation to the overall population
but also to its oldest part, aged 85+. The growth of this
population group is forecasted to be particularly significant in
Poland, and this poses a particular challenge for proper
housing, well suited to the needs of the oldest group of people.
In the second part, dwelling environment for seniors
as a critical economic factor is discussed. It is pointed out that
poor housing conditions older people live in contribute to vast
financial expenses caused by the need for medical care
resulting from accidents taking place in maladjusted
dwellings. Poorly accessible dwellings contribute to social
isolation that in turn, may result in mental disorders. The
location of older people dwellings in scattered, peripheral
areas also leads to alienation and makes the job of social
workers less effective. However, above all, proper housing
condition may keep a person active and healthy for a much
longer time. Thanks to proper housing, seniors may keep

60
working and thus may contribute to the economic prosperity of
the country.
The third part is focused on housing stock
development in Poland. The majority of the housing stock in
Poland was created in socialism, when Poland, as well as in
other CEE countries, experienced very intense urbanization
and industrialization process. This has significant
repercussions today. The majority of the seniors in Poland live
in prefabricated housing stock created in socialism. These
dwellings are hardly adaptable, though several amendments
can be introduced. Equally important is the environment, in
which this dwelling is located. In socialism, the estates were
designed with a young population in mind. Today many
kindergartens or schools are obsolete and could be
transformed into other function better suited for the ageing
population needs.
The subsequent part concentrates on the question:
What is a senior-friendly apartment? Based on the outcomes of
the project of the first model apartment for seniors in Poland
done by the chapter’s authors, the features of such a dwelling
are presented. The initiative is being described in detail in the
sixth part. It is worth mentioning that it is a bottom-up, purely
private initiative where no public support was involved so far.
It is a civic response to the currently observed accelerated
process of ageing in Poland. The project had found a vivid
response in the press and contributed mainly to a growing
awareness of the age-friendly housing in Poland.
Finally, outlook and potential solutions are being
presented. It is pointed out that in Poland, in-depth studies on
housing conditions of seniors are needed and that cities should
also make such analysis on a local level. Apart from that, the
state should introduce technical standards regarding new
housing stock according to which age-friendly dwellings
would be built. The investors, both public and private, should
be obliged to create such dwellings and economic incentives

61
for adoption of existing housing stock to age-friendly standard
should be introduced. However, above all, the education of
seniors, their relatives, architects, and policymakers on age-
friendly housing should become a priority.

Ageing as a Significant Process for Future Spatial

Development
Europe belongs to the oldest regions in the world in the
demographic terms. According to the WHO it has the highest
median age and people in many European countries enjoy the
highest life expectancies (WHO Regional Office for Europe,
2012). However, many differences between European
countries exist regarding demographic processes, and they
tend to grow. These concerns, in particular, the pace of the
ageing process.
Nowadays, countries of CEE face a rapid process of
ageing. Such an intensity of the process was found in none of
the Western European countries so far, and it is expected to
increase. This is well exemplified by the cases of Poland and
Germany. In 1950 the median age in Poland was only 25.8
years while in Germany 35.2. Nowadays (2015) Poland still
can be regarded as the country with a very young population
(median age 39.7 years) and Germany together with Japan is
described as the country with the oldest populations in the
world (median age 45.9). However, this situation is going to
be completely different in 2050. It is expected that by that time
Poland will become a demographically older country than
Germany with a median age exceeding 52 years, while for
Germany it will amount to only 50.3 years (statista.com,
2019). It is important to note that Germany with currently
many excellent solutions aimed at meeting the needs of older
people reached this level because the awareness of the ageing
process has existed there already for quite a long time. This is
not the case of the CEE countries which “overnight” change
from countries with young populations into those with the old

62
ones. This process was very well described by the World Bank
report with a meaningful title “From Red to Grey” (World
Bank, 2007). It was pointed out that post-socialist and post-
communist countries underwent not only the system transition
at the turn of the 1980s but also experienced an accelerated
process of demographic change. This process can be linked
with very hard economic conditions that arose in the 1990s,
which resulted in decreasing birthrate and outmigration of the
young to the west that further negatively influenced the natural
increase.
However, not only lowering birthrate contributed to
the accelerated process of ageing. Another crucial factor was a
growing life expectancy, which is going to grow in the coming
decades as well. It will certainly result in the increase of the
“oldest old” group of seniors (85+) in the CEE. This increase
will be higher than the expected one for the Western countries,
and it can be well illustrated by the comparison of the situation
in Poland, France, and Germany—the largest and neighboring
countries in Central Europe (Table 1). The percentage of
people aged 85+ in Poland is going to grow until 2060 by
more than 3.8 times, while in France this growth will amount
to 2.3 and in Germany 2.8 times.

Table 1 Percentage of People Aged 85+ in Years 2015-2060

in Germany, France, and Poland
2015 2020 2030 2040 2050 2060
Germany 2,64 2,91 4,23 4,73 6,90 7,34
France 2,95 3,36 3,61 5,39 6,31 6,93
Poland 1,75 2,16 2,53 4,81 6,00 6,72
Source: Own calculation based on the data from Eurostat
(2019).

63
Dwelling Environment of Seniors as a Critical Economic
Factor
Proper housing conditions are a predominant factor for a
successful and happy life on every life stage. However, in the
old age, housing becomes particularly important because, with
age, people tend to spend increased time in their dwellings
(even 80-90%). It is the place where app. 47% of non-fatal
injuries among older people (60+) in the European Union
occurs (EuroSafe, 2013, p. 16). The economic and societal
costs for the consequences of poor design or construction of
homes for older people are very high in Europe. In the United
Kingdom (UK) the total cost to the national health service
resulting from various incidents in unhealthy housing older
people live in is estimated to 1.7 billion Euro per year (Garett
& Burris, 2015). These are the costs only relating to the health
service, and they represent only a fraction of the total costs to
society that could be significantly reduced if senior-friendly
housing was available.
It has to be noted that real cost resulting from poor
dwelling condition are likely to be significantly larger than
those directly linked and quantified. The non-accessible
character of the flats, poor indoor environment quality causing
low physical activity induce gradual but the increased
deterioration of health. The inability to move to and from a
dwelling result not only in physical isolation of seniors but
also significantly contributes to social exclusion and mental
disorders.
Poor dwelling conditions can not only be a reason for
increased health care costs associated with injuries and
illnesses but contribute to lowering the age when seniors are
no longer in position to live independent and rely on social
care. In Poland, due to lower health level of older people than
in the west, the age at which a person starts to need assistance
or needs to move to a nursing home is already 75-80 years
(Błędowski, Szatur-Jaworska, Szweda-Lewandowska, &

64
Kubicki, 2012) whereas in Western Europe it is 85. Nursing
homes regardless of their standard, are more cost-intensive
than independent or semi-independent living. Therefore,
support of age-friendly housing should be seen as a way to
minimize increased expenses in health and social care.
Not only the conditions offered by the dwellings
themselves but also their spatial distribution in the urban
structure has an impact on the costs connected with health and
social care on seniors. Scattered, often located in areas of poor
social infrastructure and services, these dwellings generate
extra effort for social workers. It is more money and time
spent on travels and making provisions than practical work
focused on social and physical activation of the seniors.
Finally, the economic influence of ageing populations
should not only be seen through costs. Active and healthy
seniors can contribute to the economy instead of being seen as
a burden for the system. Although seniors are usually
associated with persons who are not professionally active
anymore, one cannot deny the influence of seniors on the job
market. The share of people over 50 on the job market is prone
to increase, and already in many companies, they belong to a
valued core of the staff. Having said that dwelling conditions
and life satisfaction contribute to work productivity, one
should see the senior-friendly housing stock as another
economic factor.
The abrupt demographic change in the CEE will bring
many challenges, among which the adoption of the housing
conditions to the needs of older adults seems to be most
pronounced. Although many Western European experiences
might be very valuable and useful, the countries of the CEE
area need to develop their own responses to maladjusted
housing older people live. It is caused by the differences in
housing stock between these two European regions.

65
Housing Stock Development in Poland and Senior
Dwellings
Older generations of Polish society have a rather low mobility
rate. Surveys conducted among Polish seniors (Cieśla, Cieśla,
& Iwański, 2018) indicate a high percentage of old people
dwellings in prefabricated multifamily buildings dating from
socialist times. This may indicate that those persons moved
into their apartments when they were young and never
changed them later.
In 1950 the CEE region was overwhelmingly rural:
the share of the rural population was over 80% in Bulgaria and
Yugoslavia, over 70% in Romania and Poland, and 60% in
Hungary (Enyedi, 1996, p. 109). These shares were very high
in comparison to Western Europe, where less than 30% of the
population lived in rural areas. Therefore, one of the primary
objectives of socialist planning was to catch up with the West
in terms of industrial and urban development. Indeed,
industrialization and urbanization process was very intense
during 44 years of the socialist period. Nowadays, the shares
of urban populations in post-socialist countries are comparable
with those in the West. However, there are substantial
differences in the city network structure (people are more
concentrated in medium-sized cities) and in the housing stock
structure.
In Poland in period 1946-1988 urban population
tripled—it grew by 15.7 million, from 7.5 in 1946 to 23.2
million 1988 (own calculation based on census data derived
from the Central Statistical Office of Poland). This immense
growth required an intensive housing construction. According
to the data of the Central Statistical Office of Poland, in period
1945-1988 over 7.5 million flats were built in Poland, most of
which are in prefabricated, multi-store buildings. Nowadays,
these buildings form a large part of the housing stock in Polish
cities. It must be noted, however, that despite high
construction rates housing shortage existed throughout the

66
socialism and it remains on a high level. For this reason, the
current National Housing Program envisages building 2.5
million flats until 2030 (MIIR, 2016).
Cities in socialism were planned with a young
population in mind. Mostly young people were migrating from
the rural areas, and this migration was described as a social
promotion. The cities were enlarged by prefabricated estates
(in the Soviet Union and Romania called micro districts or
micro rayon, in the German Democratic Republic (GDR)
“Großwohnsiedlungen” and in Poland “osiedla
mieszkaniowe”). These structures included the multi-store
apartment’s buildings, social infrastructure, and services. They
were designed to host several thousand inhabitants. The
average size of the estate amounted to 10 000 inhabitants;
however, some were much more populous. The largest Polish
estate, Ursynów in Warsaw was planned for 140 000 people.
This part of Warsaw is ageing now the fastest compared to
other city districts (Cieśla & Iwański, 2017).
Even though many facilities such as schools and
kindergartens located at the socialist housing estates are
becoming obsolete so far, no discussion has been raised on the
methods of adapting them to the needs of the ageing
inhabitants. Dwellings and buildings also require adaptions,
but these are hard to be done since prefabricated systems
construction does not allow for significant changes at low cost.
Overall, Poland witnesses high deficiencies in housing
dedicated to older residents both in existing stock and the new
one. On the state level, the National Housing Program
acknowledges the need in creating flats for older people.
However, it concentrates its measures on flats for the young
people as it is hoped that by improving their housing
conditions also the birthrate will increase. Apart from the
state-level housing policy is also led on a local level.
Unfortunately, only few cities take measures aimed at creating
housing for older people. Worth mentioning are the actions are

67
taken in Szczecin, Stargard, Poznań, and Ostrów
Wielkopolski.
While a closer look into the urbanization process in
the CEE region with regard to senior dwelling conditions is
needed, the above observation allows for a conclusion that
different housing stock adaption strategies should be created in
different countries. In Poland, the most critical type of
dwelling seems to be the prefabricated blocks of flats.

Current Situation and Dwelling Needs of Seniors in Poland

Whereas an in-depth study of senior dwelling conditions needs
to be done, an initial survey (Cieśla, Cieśla, & Iwański, 2018)
allow for the following observations. Majority of Polish
seniors’ dwell in midsize towns up to 65 000. This is alarming
as it is the size of towns which suffer the highest shrinkage
and ageing (Śleszyński, 2016) being also much weaker in
terms of health and social care infrastructure.
Polish seniors are between 60 and 75 years old they
were born in the 1950s during the first demographic high after
the war. This group has a relatively high potential for
independent living, and most of the physical burdens can be
balanced with equipment. Those people can potentially profit
most from living independently and usually do not require
intensive care. A significant part of them can stay
professionally active.
Similarly, to other European countries, it is women
who prevail among Polish seniors. Their dominance in the
overall number of seniors is connected with the difference in
life expectancy of males and females. Interestingly, however,
this discrepancy is in Poland much more significant than in
other countries of the European Union. According to Eurostat
in 2017 life expectancy for men and women in the UK
amounted to 79.5 and 83.1 years respectively (3.5 years
difference), while in Poland at the same it was estimated on
level of 73.9 and 81.8 years (8 years difference) (Eurostat,

68
2019). Gender of dwelling users seems to be a crucial factor to
take into account.
Seniors in Poland live in their dwellings as singles or
couples. The larger, multigeneration model is getting less and
less popular, represented at present by only a fraction of
households. This is followed by the fact that loneliness is
being increasingly reported as an issue bothering the singles.
Depression is often the consequence of loneliness and
isolation. According to the PolSenior survey, the risk of
depression among Polish seniors increases with age, and it was
reported that in the age group 55-59 1/5 of persons had
depression, 65-79 1/4 and in the group with more than 80
years 1/3 (Mossakowska, Więcek, & Błędowski, 2012). The
dwelling, therefore, should provide not only retreat but also
the potential for easy reaching out to other community
members.
There seems to be a considerable discrepancy in the
needed and actual size of seniors’ dwelling s in Poland. Only
20% of the surveyed seniors live in 40-60m² the size best
suited for singles and couples. Big dwellings (houses or
apartments) cause significantly increased maintenance costs,
whereas smaller dwelling does not allow for the accessible and
safe arrangement. About half of the surveyed seniors live in
multistory buildings without an elevator, and the majority of
the dwellings are situated in buildings from the socialist era
(Cieśla, Cieśla, & Iwański, 2018).
Although the above depicts the current dwelling
environment of seniors as rather discouraging vast majority is
against changing their place of residence. This also due to the
existing social connections, or merely a sentiment. The most
open for a change of address are characteristically those who
dwell in social housing projects what indicates especially low
satisfaction in this type of dwellings.

69
What Is a Senior-Friendly Apartment?
Whereas the importance, high demand for senior-friendly
apartments cannot be denied it remains an open question what
defines such a dwelling. In broad terms, such an apartment
should provide optimal living conditions for a person with
limitations associated with advanced age to enable
independent and active and satisfying live style. The authors
of the first model apartment for seniors in Poland stress the
importance of three key features: safety, comfort, and ease of
maintenance (Cieśla & Cieśla, 2018). These translate into
various issues.
Safety should be provided by reducing the risk of
common injuries. This is fostered by the barrier-free character
of the interior with particular regard to bathroom and kitchen
and a set of special aids such as railings. Importantly, thanks to
the flexible arrangement on preinstalled fixing points, the
safety increasing equipment can be gradually added according
to the raising needs of the user.
Comfort has multiple dimensions, among which air
quality, thermal comfort, and acoustics play a significant role.
Taking into account that seniors are much more sensitive to all
disruptors and illness triggering factors, a senior-friendly
apartment should be distinguished by elevated standards in all
of the mentioned aspects. This does not necessarily result in
significant cost increase if taken into account before
construction.
Ease of maintenance has its financial and purely
physical dimension. Above all, a rightly chosen size of the
dwellings allows for optimization in both. Apartments with the
size of 40-60 m² usually do not have excessive costs in terms
of utilities and are easy clean if adequately furnished and
equipped with easy cleanable surfaces. A senior-friendly
apartment should also be easily upgraded with telecoms and
other infrastructure allowing easier access to services and if
so, becoming a serviced apartment.

70
Problem Awareness and Education Efforts
Although the ageing poses significant challenges both on an
individual and national scale, there has been little done about
it. The reason for it might have been a still low level of
problem and insufficient knowledge of available solutions
(Klimczuk & Tomczyk, 2016). Private home buyers or
decisionmakers responsible for public housing stock seem to
underestimate the importance of senior-friendly dwellings.
This is gradually changing, thanks to both public sectors led
and bottom-up initiatives.
The Polish government has launched a multisector
program called “Accessibility Plus” (pol. “Dostępność Plus”)
the aim of which is to increase the general availability of the
built environment, equipment, and services to people with
disabilities including seniors (MIIR, 2018). The program calls
for improvements in law regulations and policies and fosters
the dissemination of good practice. Additionally, the National
Institute of Public Health in Poland has launched a campaign
in media, and a series of events on ageing and connected
challenges and solutions implemented followed by a
publication of education brochure titled “Features of a safe
dwelling for seniors” (Cieśla & Cieśla, 2018).
Local authorities start to realize the problem of the
ageing population. In 2007 WHO published a guide on age-
friendly cities, which comprised eight different domains
referring to the city life (WHO, 2007). Based on that in 2010 a
global network of age-friendly cities was launched, which
initially had 33 cities, but in the year 2018, their number
exceeded 700, 7 of them in Poland (WHO, 2018).
Poland has a network of Third Age Universities with
first institutions dating back to 1975; however, most of them in
operation since 2010 or younger. Some of those institutions
established to keep the seniors active introduce the subject of a

71
healthy lifestyle with regard to dwellings, such as education on
injury prevention.
A relatively new and innovative platform for
education, training, and best practice exchange is a model
apartment for seniors in Warsaw. This private, bottom-up an
initiative called “At Home Despite the Age” (pol. “U Siebie
Mimo Wieku”) (Mimo wieku, 2019) aims to present a
technically feasible complete solution to most of the problems
of seniors in apartments. It should be mentioned that the
design takes into account the economic factors of the Polish
real estate market.

First Model Apartment for Seniors in Poland

A common constraint in implementing proper senior-friendly
solutions at homes is the lack of knowledge about what could
be installed and how a dwelling for senior should look like. In
order to alleviate this problem in Western countries, so-called
model apartments for seniors are flourishing. In France, they
are named “un appartement témoin pour les personnes âgées”
in Germany “Musterwohnung für Senioren.” Their primary
purpose is to raise awareness among older people and their
carers about what is available on the market, which can help
them stay healthy and independent longer. They may focus on
particular disorders such as “dementia house” in the UK,
where dedicated solutions for people with cognitive
impairments are presented. Others show technological
advances that support older dwellers. Apart from educating
seniors and their carers, these model apartments have also
other particularly important function. Namely, they serve as an
advertising space for age-friendly products and services.
Companies have the possibility to gain new customers—older
people, whose number is rapidly growing. In this way, model
apartments contribute to the development of the silver
economy.

72
 The first model apartment for seniors was opened in
Poland in September 2016. It is located in Warsaw, close to a
subway station Wawrzyszew. Unlike other Western examples
of this kind, it is an entirely private and bottom-up initiative.
Its authors (Agnieszka Cieśla and Jan Cieśla) managed to
invite 18 companies all together to a dwelling, which was lent
for this purpose by their relatives. During two years of
existence, it was visited by over 2300 persons, who
represented various groups: seniors, their carers but also
architects, social activists and representatives of developers
interested in creating this kind of dwellings. It is worth
mentioning that the apartment was also visited by the
representatives of the Ministry of Investment and Economic
Development as well as the Ministry of Family, Labour, and
Social Policy. Apart from visits and training, the authors were
also busy with publicizing about their initiative. The press and
others were keen to show this development as a spectacular
and positive example of potential countermeasures to
challenges connected with the ageing population on both
national and individual scale.

Outlook and Potential Solutions

The lack of senior-friendly dwellings will result in increased
expenses in health and social care systems. Fostering active
and independent lifestyle among seniors and providing senior-
friendly apartments seems to be the best strategy as shown by
examples in Western Europe. This is a growing necessity for
Poland, where as shown above, the process of demographic
ageing is particularly fast.
In order to stimulate housing modernization and new
age-friendly housing construction, various means should be
applied. First of all, in-depth studies and analysis are needed
that would show the scale of the needs of older people for
proper housing conditions. Such surveys are very costly, and
they should be financed by the state. The cities should also be

73
encouraged to carry out such surveys in cooperation with
scientific institutions. It is essential for the cities to properly
measure the housing needs of the seniors as this has significant
implications on spatial planning. Unfortunately, so far surveys
on older people needs regarding housing in Poland are
missing. As a consequence, the potential investors (both
private and public) disregard older people as potential
customers of their investments.
Such studies would also trigger a very much needed
discussion on how citizens want to live in the old age. Such a
discussion has never taken place in Poland, perhaps due to the
fact that so far, the majority of the older persons lived with
their relatives and were cared for by them. This changes
nowadays abruptly. The caring potential of Polish families is
rapidly diminishing due to the outmigration of more than 2
million young people after accession to the European Union in
2004. As a consequence, new models of senior housing should
appear.
Apart from that, the state should introduce elevated
technical standards regarding new housing stock. It is crucial
because particularly in the new housing age-friendly dwellings
can be created at low costs in comparison to expensive
modernization of existing housing stock. The investors should
not only be incentivized to carry out such investments, but
they should also be obliged to create a certain number of age-
friendly dwelling in each investment. Such a solution is
already in place in Germany.
The modernization of the existing housing stock and
creating in this way more age-friendly dwellings is also
significant, due to the fact that as shown above the majority of
the seniors in Poland live in prefabricated housing dating back
to socialism. The local government can carry out some
measures such as co-financing of the bathroom modernization
(the case of Poznań) in reference to communal housing. For
private persons owning their flats, banks should provide

74
financial support in the form of flex. Reversed mortgage with
which they could finance the necessary amendments in their
flats.
Above all, education of end-users and policymakers is
needed. It is vital to talk about ageing and housing needs in the
old age also with the young people in order not only to
sensitize them to the needs of seniors but also to make them
aware of their future needs.
So far, Poland has not witnessed efficient, coordinated
programs aimed at increasing the availability of senior-
friendly dwellings. Taking into account the relatively weak
and deteriorated public housing stock and rather a modest
production in the public sector it is the private developers and
individuals shaping their demand who may change the
situation.

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