Re-Examining Age-Friendly Communities for Older People with Insecure Housing Histories

In many countries, population aging and increasing rates of housing security among older people are unfolding simultaneously. While the World Health Organization's Age-Friendly Cities and Communities (AFCC) framework is largely considered the leading framework for developing age-supportive communities, it does not adequately account for the ways in which a community may be inclusive, supportive, or age-friendly for older people with lived experience of housing insecurity. This paper began with a question: What would an age-friendly community look like for older people with experiences of housing insecurity? Drawing on the Aging in the Right Place (AIRP) framework, a rights-based conceptual model of six indicators developed through community-based participatory research, this paper re-examines and extends each of the WHO AFCC framework's eight domains: housing, transportation, social participation, respect and social inclusion, civic participation, communication and information, community support and health services, and outdoor spaces and buildings. This paper argues that age-friendly approaches must recognize housing as a human right and housing security as a cornerstone of age-friendly communities, requiring protections including rent control, eviction prevention, and incentives for non-market housing development. Recommendations are offered for municipalities seeking to embed AIRP and rights-based perspectives into age-friendly strategies and evaluation.