Basel: Senior citizens to move into smaller apartments
The Basel Finance Department and the Basel-Stadt Pension Fund (PKBS) are launching a new model to control the use of housing: older tenants are to be encouraged to move into smaller apartments.
Immobilien Basel-Stadt's new model is called "Safe Living in Old Age" and is initially set to run for three years. It will apply from July 1 to tenants in apartments owned by the company - i.e. apartments in the financial assets of the canton or the PKBS - who have reached the age of 65.
The background to this is that older people with long-term rental contracts often pay a very favorable monthly rent, according to Immobilien Basel-Stadt. In some cases, this has meant that when they want to leave their rental apartment, for example because of a lack of elevators or accessibility, they can hardly find a comparably priced apartment. In today's market environment, even smaller rental apartments are often more expensive than the current rents paid by older residents for their long-standing apartments, they say.
Under the new model, the current rent is now to serve as the basis for calculating the new rent. Because the new apartment must be at least ten percent smaller, seniors will therefore pay less rent after a move than before.
Immobilien Basel-Stadt expects the innovation to enable older tenants to move into an apartment that meets their needs. It also offers the advantage that the larger apartments that become empty can be rented out to families again.
There are 2,000 apartments in the financial assets of the canton of Basel-Stadt, while PKBS has 3,900 units. 15 to 20 percent of tenants in apartments managed by Immobilien Basel-Stadt are over 65 years old, he said.
