'In the years ahead the proportion of the population that needs daily help will increase,' says real-estate expert Professor Dirk Schiereck of the TU Darmstadt. 'Property companies will need to adapt to this as well. Creative solutions are required.' Only five percent of Germany's eleven million older people currently live in handicapped-accessible households.

'The aim should be to support older people so that they can live independently in their own homes for as long as possible,' says Claudia Hoyer, the TAG Management Board member responsible for property management. There are many ways to create senior-friendly housing, ranging from architectural and neighbourhood concepts to assisted living.

Besides measures to ensure accessibility for disabled people, small projects can help residential property companies score points with their older tenants. For example, half of the seniors in the survey felt their landlords could provide more neighbourhood assistance, for example in the form of 'phone chain' networks and leisure activities such as tea dances or support through shopping trips. TAG cooperates with charities at many locations to address these needs. 'So we are committed to providing senior-friendly housing in the neighbourhoods in question,' says Hoyer.

In Erfurt, for example, a housekeeper from a welfare association caters to the needs and wishes of the elderly, advises them about care in their own homes or helps with their shopping. The tenants also live in handicapped-accessible flats with wheelchair ramps, wide doors, adequate space for mobility in the bathrooms including floor-level showers, and a lift. Tenant and care services are also available as needed.

In 2014, TAG partnered with Caritas to expand a communal home in the Lusan district of Gera into a consultation, meeting and communications centre. The idea is to create a viable network of neighbourhood assistance, as has already been successfully achieved at the Salzgitter location, where since 2013, tenants have met in an intergenerational centre to cook, celebrate and have games afternoons. 'These examples show that it's not about property companies investing large sums of money, but implementing well thought-out, suitable solutions for older people,' says real-estate expert Schiereck.

Contact for the tenant survey:

Thöring & Stuhr

Communications Consulting

Claudia Thöring

Mittelweg 19

D-20148 Hamburg

Phone: +49 40 207 6969 82

Mobile: +49 170 2150 146

Claudia.Thoering@corpnewsmedia.de


About TAG Immobilien AG

TAG Immobilien AG an MDAX-listed company with a more than 125-year history. Its primary locations are in the Greater Hamburg and Berlin areas, the Salzgitter region, as well as Thuringia / Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. TAG currently manages about 74,000 dwellings and the associated commercial areas, garages and parking spaces. The company's goal is to improve the quality of housing for its tenants. In line with this, TAG adapts its holdings to modern living needs to, gets involved in the communities of its residential quarters, and promotes a good neighbourhood spirit. The Group continually reduces vacancy and increasing the value of its total portfolio through prudent management of its properties and a future-oriented/forward-looking development of its overall portfolio.

Press enquiries:

TAG Immobilien AG

Head of Investor & Public Relations

Dominique Mann

Phone +49 (0) 40 380 32 300

Fax +49 (0) 40 380 32 390

pr(at)tag-ag.com

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