18 december 2012

Meeting on improving the quality of life of the elderly

Assisted living residences provide a place of permanent residence to single elderly individuals and retired childless married couples.

According to St Petersburg law, single elderly individuals are those people who reside in St Petersburg, their family members, and individuals related by affinity, who reach their fifty-fifth birthday, if a female, or their sixtieth birthday, if a male, who do not have children or whose children cannot provide them with care due to a disability or because they live far away.

Assisted living residences are not social facilities in the true sense of the word. They are residential buildings where people live by virtue of a certificate and a rent contract. They pay the rent, utility bills, and phone bills themselves. The average cost of living and utility services is 1,100-1,600 roubles. The flats in such buildings cannot be privatised, exchanged, subleased, or rented by a third party.

Flats, lifts, and staircases in these buildings are designed to provide a comfortable environment to people with mobility restrictions. The buildings include social and medical service facilities located on the ground floor. Medical, social, and cultural services are provided by the social services centre of the corresponding St Petersburg district.

A total of 18 assisted living residences operate in 12 districts in St Petersburg and comprise 1,114 flats for 1,300 people.

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