Updated Chapter 2 (Chart and Diagram) 01/11/2017
CHAPTER 2: CURRENT HOUSING PROBLEMS AND
ISSUES
There
are five stages such as infancy, childhood, adolescence, adulthood and old age which
can be seen in a man’s life. An individual will find himself different and
faces several types of challenges in each of these stages. Aging is unavoidable
and several problems are being risen within this phase physically, emotionally,
socially, financially and psychologically.
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Chart 1 shows the satisfaction value
on the current living unit.
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2.1 Physical
Needs
Presently,
new medications and surgical techniques offer a chance for people to live
longer. In order to support the prolonged life expectancy, it might be a need
for the older adults to modify their current housing that had been reported to
be less accessible which also makes them to be less involved in the community
besides feeling isolated from others frequently. (Wardrip, 2010) It will be such a trouble for them.
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Figure 1 Typical terraced housing
design in USJ2, Subang Jaya.
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Figure 2 Suriamas Apartment and Condominium Design in Bandar Sunway, Selangor.
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First and foremost, location is the
main element affecting the user experience within their living area. An ideal
location would bring convenience through easy accessibility, located near to
the convenience as well as proximity to their friends and family. These are
crucial for the older adults in a way for them to live independently while at
the same time happily and peacefully. As shown in Figure 1 and Figure 2, residential
development in Malaysia were occurred in groups in either terraced housing or
high-rise apartments. It is easy to find similar development around the
building and this had limit the exploration of users within their living area. The
recent survey investigated that 40 percent of respondents were somehow
unsatisfied with the location of their current housing. Survey respondents
reported that they lived in a less-accessible housing which is being isolated
from the families as well as convenience store.
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Chart 2 shows the rating on the
present living situation based on the location.
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Chart 3 shows the rating on present
living situation based on the accessibility.
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Besides, Malaysians are currently
living in a form of small nuclear family due to the rapid urbanisation of the
country. This can be proved when the average household size was reported to be
4.31 persons, according to the last Census conducted in 2010. (Loong, 2014) In order to suit
with the needs and demand happening, the typical size of an apartment in
Malaysia is approximately 875 square feet and comes with only 2 to 3 bedrooms
as shown in Figure 3 whereas for a typical terraced housing, it is on an
average of 1150 square feet and have 3 to 4 bedrooms as shown in Figure 4. (Vittenbroek, 2017) Hence, it is clearly
shown that these housing were designed to accommodate only the small family which
consists of parents and children. How about the elder generation? The recent
survey shows that the elderly are actually unsatisfied with the amount of room
and space in their current housing. They reported that their housing is unable
to adopt their child together with grandchildren especially during the festival
season where the children going back for celebration.
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Figure 3 Typical Floor Plan for Terraced
Housing in USJ2, Subang Jaya. (1855 sqft)
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Chart 4 shows the rating on present
living situation based on the amount of room and space.
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Furthermore,
it is unavoidable in experiencing physical decline in both sensory and motor functioning
during the old age phase. Sensory and motor losses are among of the top-ranking
anxieties about old age. (Belsky, 1999) Vision changes as
you age. Despite of the age-related decline in eyes’ performance, an older
adult will be having trouble with his visual such as problems distinguishing
specific colours, more bothered by glare as well as being blinded by a direct
beam of light. Moreover, he might also experiencing a narrower field of vision
that disable them to see objects at the corner of their gaze. (Belsky, 1999) In order to
compensate for poorer dark vision, several considerations should be taken to
ensure the older people’s home being well litted. All out of often, it is
definitely hard to find current housing neither detached housing nor apartment
blocks to suit best with the visual problems faced by elderly. Presently, overhead
fixtures especially fluorescent bulbs were being widely used in design in
creating a comfortable and relax ambiance as shown in Figure 5.
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Figure 5 Living Room design in
terraced housing in USJ2, Subang Jaya with widely usage of fluorescent
light that may create glare to the elderly.
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Besides that, as people aged, motor
performance including coordination as well as movement would undergoing decline
in its availability and flexibility. Undeniably, quick responds are essential
for carrying out basic activities such as crossing a street before the light
changes, driving and others. However, these deficits had impacted the failure
of older adults in performing their functional activities in daily living. It
is a fact that older people move more slowly and unsteadily. Moreover, they
also take much longer to respond. Problems particularly on performing actions
such as holding a cup of tea more unsteadily, having more trouble turning on
the stove as well as taking longer time to rise from a chair or get to the door
are being risen when one stepping into the aging phase. (Belsky, 1999) Therefore, universal design which
promotes age-integrated society were being integrated to our living society
today.
Meanwhile, research found that our
current housing in Malaysia were still in a low exposure to universal design
and this situation leaves lots of troublesome to the occasional group of people
especially the respectful elders. As shown in Figure 6, current housing in
Malaysia were still emphasize on staircase in manipulating vertical circulation
between different levels. This is definitely limited the users who facing
mobility difficulties and yet give them the bad impact emotionally.
Another
big problem that discouraging user-friendly would be the washroom. Safe
installation including grab bars, curb less showers and wall-mounted sinks was
hardly be found in the washroom of the current housing. This is definitely creating
a big danger and threat not only for the elderly users but as well as disable
people.
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Figure 6 Staircase acts as the main
accessible path to enter the 1st floor of the house.
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| Figure 7 Typical Bathroom Design in Suriamas Condominium, Bandar Sunway. |
Despite all of the above situations, there is 70 percent of the survey respondents who gives a very unsatisfactory grade onto the aspects of disability features for their current housing.
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Chart 5 shows the rating of present
living situation based on the disability features.
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2.2 Economic Needs
Vision
2020 had set a goal of developing Malaysian society in all dimensions. Enjoying
high quality of life is one of the promise that would be achieved along the way
of succeeding the big mission. (Government, 2011) In order to achieve
progressive economic in Malaysia, residential development is being emphasized
as living unit acts as one of the main asset in a man’s life. Yet, it also
serves in providing a shelter and thus improving the quality of life. Everyone
wants to own a house. This makes the supply unable to balance with the demands
yet it causes the availability of housing becoming compact nowadays. Therefore,
high property prices is reaching beyond the affordability of buyers. In 2016, the
average house price in Kuala Lumpur was RM772, 116. (Guide, 2017)
The sky-high house price had
definitely surprised the people especially the older adults whose some of them
is incapable in supporting their financial independently. Elders are the one
who had completed their working life and enjoying their retirement years. The
recent survey had reported that there is 60% of the older adults who is
currently unemployed while 20% of them are now lived with their pension. Here comes
the problem for their income which support their future life. According to the
survey conducted, it is found that the older adults were relying on several
types of sources for their income such as pension, savings and investment
income while financial support from family members is the main source of income
for most of the elders. This shows that they may only afford to pay for their
living such as housing repair and utilities bills due to their limited income.
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Chart 6 shows the current employment
status of the target elder group.
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On the other hand, in order to ensure
all Malaysians, particularly the low-income groups, have the affordable shelter
and related facilities, Malaysian government had provide subsidized housing to
the people. (Government, 2011) Affordable housing
schemes such as MYHOME Scheme and PRIMA are being promoted to assist the
low-income group of people. They were sold in a cheaper price range between
RM35, 000 to RM400, 000 with target buyers earning RM2, 000 to RM7, 500. (Government, 2011) Are this affordable
housing helping all Malaysians including the elder generation? The older adults
who had no income are not applicable to these housing schemes and yet it does
not meet their physical and social needs as well.
Besides, there is also middle-class
income group who are often being overlooked. In order to adapt with the
challenging economic environment, they worked full-time to support family
income. Some of them would even working part-time to take care of their own
parents as well as spouse parents. Caregivers sometimes can be overburdened,
overwhelmed and distressed as it required lots of effort to deal with. The term
caregiving covers a range of activities, from just a bit of occasional help to
24-hour care. (Belsky, 1999) Troublesome may
occurred.
With the increase of women
involvement in the workforce, the job of caring for elder parents today has
been argued. Conflicts occurred when it is highly risky to leave elder parents
alone at home but at the same time it is unable for them to quit their job to
look after their parents. A stable financial income is highly needed for these
breadwinner of families as they need to support both the elder parents and
young children. They were called as “Sandwich Generation”. As shown in Chart 7,
56.7 percent of the survey respondents earning RM3, 000 and below per month. It
would be hard for them to build up a family with single source of income
despite of the elevation of living standard. Furthermore, it is also reported
that the survey respondents would spend 25 percent of their monthly expenditure
for their elder parents. This shows that they are having a limited spending as
they need to support others.
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| Chart 7 shows the average monthly income of the target survey respondents. |
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| Chart 8 shows the average percentage of monthly expenditure for family especially elder parents. |
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2.3 Social and Psychological Support
Planning
and design of housing unit nowadays not only tend to focus on the physical and
safety needs of the elderly, while social needs of the elderly is essential to
be addressed as well. (Esther, Sheila, Edwin, 2016) Elders are the group
of people who had overcame their working lifestyle for the past years and they
were enjoying their retirement period. They would undergo many changes during
this golden years. Companionship could be one of the big challenge for them to
adopt with. (Amy, 2015) In spite of leaving
themselves from the working environment, the elders need time to switch
themselves into retirement and relax mode. In compared with the busy working
lifestyle which they had used to be, they would find that there is a lot of
free time for them and they may face difficulties in spending the time wisely. It
is common for them to find themselves isolated from the society while at the
same time they feel lonely and uncomfortable.
Being social active is one of the
best way for the elders to enjoy an enhanced quality of life. Research found
that older adults who maintain higher levels of social activity could improve
their ability to perform the simple activities of daily living. (Newsroom, 2016) Through the varying
of social activities such as volunteer groups or senior citizen hobby club, the
elder can stay connected to other people and it will help yield the health
consequences. Companionship is important for their well-being. (Amy, 2015) Being with friends
and family tends to help us to eat more. This situation happened due to the
fact that we would get influenced by the happiness and warmness shared around
us. Same goes to the elderly. When they can eat together with friends and
family, there wouldn’t be meal skipping and thus improved nutrition they
gained.
Besides, stress leaves a hostile
impact towards our body, regardless of age. It is a fact that the elders had
been deal with the stressful environment, concerning about financial issue,
relationship issue as well as loads of works and burden in the past years. (Amy, 2015) Hence, some of them
could undergo some emotional problems and bringing it to their aging phase.
Moreover, during their golden years, they would also worrying about financial
or health issue, living by themselves or even forgotten by the family members.
Meanwhile, by interacting socially with others, they can express their fear and
concern with others and thus solving it together. Illnesses such as depression
and anxiety can be avoided through the social interaction. (Amy, 2015)
In order to enhance social active between
the elderly, physical support including facilities and amenities as well as
health and wellness are essential to be input into the common space and the
living unit of elderly. A recent survey had been carried out to study the
enhancement of social interaction between friends and neighbourhood of the
current housing of elderly. More than 50 percent of the survey respondents
would give an unsatisfactory response on the sense of community given by their
current neighbourhood context. They also reported that they felt isolated
because on their point of view, neighbours are strangers to them. There is a
lack of facilities such as park for them to socialise with the community around
them. As shown in Chart 8, more than 60 percent of the respondents are
unsatisfied with the facilities and amenities provided within their current housing too.
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| Chart 9 shows the rating on the present living situation based on the sense of community. |
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| Chart 10 shows the rating on present living situation based on the facilities and amenities. |
Due to the fact that aging is a
period of physical decline, health and wellness need to play well in the common
space of elderly. It helps the elders live independently, meanwhile staying
socially active. Having health and wellness nearby the active area of the
elderly brings convenience to the elderly as they do not need to rely on their
family members to take care of them. This might lighten up the burden of their
child in taking care of the elderly parents. Based on the survey that have been
done, most of the elderly would find that it is essential to upgrade the health
and wellness activity within their living area.
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| Chart 11 shows the rating on present living situation based on the health and wellness. |
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Furthermore, adequate access of
privacy needed to be emphasized besides encouraging the social interaction.
Privacy acts as a sense of security to the users. Therefore, balance between
public as well as private space for the users need to be achieved according to
the intimacy level of interaction happened. Based on the recent survey, the
elderly responded towards the satisfactory rate in term of privacy within their
current housing.
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On the other hand, Malaysian who practices
Asian family extended system is focused on the strong family bonding and
relationship. It is common nowadays of the immigration of younger generation to
the cities in improving their quality of life. (Abdul, 1979)
This situation separated the elder and younger generations. Busy and tight
working schedules in cities may lead to the out of touch between the elder
parents and the working child. This also reduces the face-to-face interaction
between the family members which is once so heart-warming in generating family
love. A call or a visit would be surely happened once in a while. However, worries
from the elder parents as well as caring of love from the working child could
not be fully express just through a call or a random visit. Based on the survey
conducted, 38 percent of the respondents will get a chance to visit their elder
parents once in a month and this is definitely insufficient for them to take
good care of their elder parents physically and mentally.
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In conclusion, strategies and
solutions will be developed in the following chapters in order to help in
solving the problems faced by both generations since past years. Multi-generational
living is definitely a path of future. 83 percent of survey respondents
supported multi-generational living with the concern and improvement from
different approach. Besides, mostly of the elderly would also responded that
they would want to live with their intermediate or extended family in an ideal
condition of independent living within the same house. In final words,
strategies on multi-generational living in meeting the physical, economic and
social needs for both parties will be generated and interpreted in order to
develop Malaysian society who is politically stable, social adhesive as well as
economic progressive matching with the vision 2020. (Government,
2011)
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Chart 16 shows the ideal
living condition preferred by the target group of elderly.
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