Assisted housing for the elderly in mandaluyong city: a social enterprise

Abstract

This interdisciplinary, mixed-method research using the explanatory sequential design studied one sector of the elderly community's living condition in Mandaluyong City to determine the viability of putting up a privately-funded residential and care facility for them. Sixty-nine senior citizens were surveyed by a group of 4th year business students in 2013 for their feasibility study about an economic housing for the elderly, using a government-published questionnaire. Raw data from these instruments were, with the consent of the said students, used for this study. Analysis showed that the profile of the elderly under study matched with the local government statistics. The qualitative variables reflected the elderly’s feeling of neglect and loneliness and the desire to live in a more quiet and modest but decent living facility away from their noisy and chaotic home environment. Numerous laws, bills, plans, and other government initiatives that provide assistance for the welfare of the elderly were identified and determined to be useful in providing ideas to solve the problem at hand. It was therefore concluded that a privately-funded facility earlier proposed under an undergraduate feasibility study was economically viable after review in the areas of marketing, technical and financial aspects and that government interference was proposed to be solicited.