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Ageing-in-Place for Low-Income Seniors: Living at the Intersection of Multiple Identities, Positionalities, and Oppressions

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The Palgrave Handbook of Intersectionality in Public Policy

Part of the book series: The Politics of Intersectionality ((POLI))

Abstract

Ageing-in-place refers to the ability to live in one’s own home and community safely, independently, and comfortably regardless of age, income, or ability level. Often, ageing-in-place is assumed to be a positive experience; however, home is not always a positive place and can be perceived as prison-like or a burdensome environment. For older, ethno-cultural groups in Canada, acquiring adequate, comfortable housing is a challenge, especially when living with limited financial resources and lacking social and cultural capital. Using a community-based participatory research approach and a Multidimensional Intersectionality Framework, this chapter problematizes dominant, positive ageing-in-place policy discourses and provides experiential data to inform place-based policy directives for enabling older people to age well at home and in the right place. Policy implications of this work include further developing current understandings of sense-of-place that emphasize community participation, wellbeing, and nuanced experiences of older people.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Nursing and Health Sciences, University of Dundee, Scotland, UK

    Judith Sixsmith

  2. School of Energy, Geoscience, Infrastructure and Society, Heriot-Watt University, Scotland, UK

    Mei Lan Fang

  3. Department of Health and Wellbeing, Heriot-Watt University, Scotland, UK

    Ryan Woolrych

  4. Department of Gerontology, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC, Canada

    Sarah Canham & Andrew Sixsmith

  5. Fraser Health, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Lupin Battersby

  6. Department of Human Ecology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, Canada

    Tori Hui Ren

Authors
  1. Judith Sixsmith
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  2. Mei Lan Fang
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  3. Ryan Woolrych
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  4. Sarah Canham
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  5. Lupin Battersby
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  6. Tori Hui Ren
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  7. Andrew Sixsmith
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Correspondence to Judith Sixsmith .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Public Policy, Institute for Intersectionality Research and Policy, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, BC, Canada

    Olena Hankivsky

  2. Providence College, Providence, RI, USA

    Julia S. Jordan-Zachery

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Sixsmith, J. et al. (2019). Ageing-in-Place for Low-Income Seniors: Living at the Intersection of Multiple Identities, Positionalities, and Oppressions. In: Hankivsky, O., Jordan-Zachery, J.S. (eds) The Palgrave Handbook of Intersectionality in Public Policy. The Politics of Intersectionality. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-98473-5_30

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