Housing equity withdrawal for development of assisted-living facilities

Bogataj, David (author), Rogelj, Valerija (author), Bogataj, Marija (author), Drobež, Eneja (author)

Purpose The purpose of this study is to develop new type of reverse mortgage contract. How to provide adequate services and housing for an increasing number of people that are dependent on the help of others is a crucial question in the European Union (EU). The housing stock in Europe is not fit to support a shift from institutional care to the home-based independent living. Some 90% of houses in the UK and 70%–80% in Germany are not adequately built, as they contain accessibility barriers for people with emerging functional impairments. The available reverse mortgage contracts do not allow for relocation to their own adapted facilities. How to finance the adaptation from housing equity is discussed. Design/methodology/approach The authors have extended the existing loan reverse mortgage model. Actuarial methods based on the equivalence of the actuarial present values and the multiple decrement approach are used to evaluate premiums for flexible longevity and lifetime long-term care (LTC) insurance for financing adequate facilities. Findings The adequate, age-friendly housing provision that is appropriate to support the independence and autonomy of seniors with declining functional capacities can lower the cost of health care and improve the well-being of older adults. For financing the development of this kind of facilities for seniors, the authors developed the reverse mortgage scheme with embedded longevity and LTC insurance as a possible financial instrument for better LTC services and housing with care in assisted-living facilities. This kind of facilities should be available for the rapid growth of older cohorts. Research limitations/implications The numerical example is based on rather crude numbers, because of lack of data, as the developed reverse mortgage product with LTC insurance is a novelty. Intensity of care and probabilities of care in certain category of care will change after the introduction of this product. Practical implications The model results indicate that it is possible to successfully tie an insurance product to the insured and not to the object. Social implications The introduction of this insurance option will allow many older adult with low pension benefits and a substantial home equity to safely opt for a reverse mortgage and benefit from better social care. Originality/value While currently available reverse mortgage contracts lapse when the homeowner moves to assisted-living facilities in any EU Member State, in the paper a new method is developed where multiple adjustments of housing to the functional capacities with relocation is possible, under the same insurance and reverse mortgage contract. The case of Slovenia is presented as a numerical example. These insurance products, as a novelty, are portable, so the homeowner can move in own specialised housing unit in assisted-living facilities and keep the existing reverse mortgage contract with no additional costs, which is not possible in the current insurance products. With some small modifications, the method is useful for any EU Member State.

• Language: English
• Keywords: ageing, social security, old-age insurance
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: EF - School of Economics and Business
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Year: 2020
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-118102
• UDC: 332.2:005
• ISSN on article: 0263-2772
• DOI: 10.1108/F-10-2018-0125
• COBISS.SI-ID: 24792323
• Publication date in RUL: 20.08.2020

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Facilities
• Shortened title: Facilities
• Publisher: Emerald Publishing
• ISSN: 0263-2772
• COBISS.SI-ID: 512044313

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.
• Licensing start date: 20.08.2020

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: staranje, socialna varnost, starostno zavarovanje

Projects

• Funder: ARRS - Slovenian Research Agency
• Project number: J6-9396
• Name: Razvoj socialne infrastrukture in storitev za izvajanje dolgotrajne oskrbe v skupnosti