Zagreb Community Senior Centre & Housing Initiative

This project is the first in the area to present a model of long-term care for the elderly developed through a public-civic partnership. Local government provides housing units for the elderly while the civic sector caters to their needs and manages the property. The model includes a Senior Centre as a point of integration with the local community where activities for senior citizens living in the area take place. Intergenerational solidarity is achieved through engagement of both young and elderly volunteers, including some of the residents, who run the various workshops.

Zagreb Community Senior Centre & Housing (“Senior centar & Zajednica stambenih jedinica Zagreb“) addresses the housing crisis for senior citizens in Croatia. There is insufficient long-term care and housing for senior citizens in Croatia. The housing and care facilities available are unaffordable and overcrowded, which do not allow for independent, integrated and active lifestyles for senior citizens to thrive. 

We developed a housing model that provides independent living for senior citizens. The apartments are accessible, affordable, and easy to maintain. The adjacent senior centre is a space for intergenerational exchange, as well as engaging and integrating senior citizens in the local community. 

The target group are senior citizens in need of housing and counselling services and high-quality leisure education and creative activities. The senior citizen tenants are also known as “Super seniors”. The tenants and other senior citizens in the community develop and run programmes in the centre as volunteers. 

The project’s living community hub model deconstructs stereotypes and demonstrates how community efforts can provide senior citizens with dignified living conditions and participatory spaces. It promotes intergenerational contact and is a shared space for education, socialising, and entertainment. 

Zagreb Community Senior Centre & Housing is a good example of cross-sector cooperation through a public-civic partnership. The community programme is supported by the tenants and volunteers. Businesses provide financial support and in-kind donations. Our academic partnerships monitor and facilitate development.