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B. Contribution of Paula Schweinberger

4. Young and old under one roof

While I was working on the theme "alternative home forms" I learned about the St. Anna - Hilfe-gGmbh - an organisation that is quite efficient and successful in our area. Similarly like the "Generationsgemischtes Wohnen" described abov, it provides accommodation for "Old and Young", and enables the residents to live an autonomous and individual life while getting the help they might need. I'm going to give a short summary.

The idea:
Singles, couples and families with children are integrated into a housing project round a service centre. The idea is to create an accommodation that is cheaper than caring homes. Self-help, neighbourhood help and mutual support are the central principles. The residents are supposed to help each other as far as possible (with shopping, cooking, looking after the children). They also do some voluntary work in the house or in the garden and they arrange common activities. Professional help -which must be paid- is only asked when the neighbourhood help is not sufficient any more. The service centre offers qualified help with different services (nursing, meals, household). Let's have a closer look at one of their projects:

Since 1995, 16 residential homes with 569 flats have been provided. The flats can be bought or rented.840 people of different age live there. The first project was supervised by a scientific team.

http://www.st.anna-hilfe.de/

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