Elderly Jews and their neighborhood environment: A study of the Philada Apartments in Cincinnati

Conclusion

The Phiada Apartments in Cincinnati can be seen as a successful example of planned housing for the independent elderly. Levels of housing satisfaction are high even by the standards of elderly research. Furthermore, the overwhelming majority of residents were generally satisfied with their surrounding neighborhood.

Four factors were especially important in contributing to these high levels of residential satisfaction: a large enough rent subsidy to ensure the financial stability of residents, ties with the community and local service providers, residents’ ethnic and neighborhood identity, and the presence of a social worker who is accessible to residents and who is able to coordinate needed services. The results highlight the need to consider the neighborhood environment in planning housing facilities like Philada. Care must be exercised in ensuring that needed services and institutions are accessible to the residential site and, to as great an extent as possible, the site should be in a neighborhood that is familiar to the residents that it is supposed to serve.

The Philada example shows that building management need not provide on-site services for the ill or functionally impaired. However, the availability of a resident manager on 24 hour call and a social worker are essential to create a support network for the elderly The presence of these two individuate insures that individuals’ needs for specialized services are met without creating a sense of dependency on on-site social and health services.

At the same time, this case study highlights the degree to which neighborhood racial change poses a threat to a facility like this one winch is dependent on social services in the nearby area. In the future, the facility will continue to draw as clients those in their late 70’s and 80’s.