institutional services for the elderly are still provided. The nursing homes for the elderly are admission-type
facilities for economically deprived elderly. In addition, moderate-fee homes for the elderly (care houses)
provide residence and support services including meal services at low-cost.
In recent years, there are more fee-based homes for the elderly run by the private sector. These are
considered as housing facilities rather than social welfare facilities for the elderly. When the elderly enters a
contract with a service provider of fee-based home, they must pay the full expense by themselves, which
sometimes causes financial trouble between a provider and a resident. The in-home service provided by the
long-term care insurance can be used at these facilities.
Elderly housing with care services introduced in 2011 are run by the private sector, and required to
register with the prefecture. The criteria for registration are (1) dwelling floor area 25 m2 or more per
dwelling unit in principle and barrier-free design, (2) provision of services including safety confirmation
and daily life consultation, (3) extra consideration on contract to secure residence in case of long
hospitalization, etc. There are subsidies to promote elderly housing with care services, and 3,478 buildings
comprised of 111,966 units are registered by May 2013.
Alternatively, Silver Housing has been developed jointly by the Ministry of Health, Labour and
Welfare and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism since 1986. It is a collective
housing for single-person and married-couple households aged 60 years old and over, and usually Life
Support Advisors are attached on site for counseling, consultation, safety confirmation, temporary home
help, and emergency response. There is also public housing for low income households, and some of them
are purpose-built for the elderly or disabled persons.5.4.2 Five-year plan to support for people with dementia
In 2012 the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare published “Future Directions of Dementia
Support,” and announced the five-year strategic plan to support people with dementia. This plan aims to