Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada.
Novel Tech Ethics, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Canada.
J Public Health (Oxf). 2018 Sep 1;40(3):661-665. doi: 10.1093/pubmed/fdx111.
Inspired by poet J.L. Borges's intimations on acceptance, this commentary highlights the eviction of an older woman and her kitten from an affordable independent living facility as representing exclusionary practices and policies that compromise the ability for some lower-income older adults to age-in-place. Even as efforts to promote aging-in-place have prioritized housing as a key need, and public health evidence suggests benefits from animal companionship later in life, there is a shortage of social and other types of affordable housing in Canada and elsewhere that allows older adult tenants to reside independently with companion animals. Within the private housing market, however, companion animals may be leveraged as a marketing tactic, with 'pets' being welcomed into rental arrangements. In light of this means-patterned discrepancy, this commentary troubles the persistent undervaluing of human-animal relationships that exists at policy and practice levels. Furthermore, banning companion animals from affordable housing subsumes an accepted yet insidious practise of regulating the lives of older adults who have not achieved idealized conceptions of responsible aging, including home ownership. We draw these two concerns together by advocating for adequate provision of affordable housing opportunities where lower-income older adults may be granted the choice to establish a home that includes a companion animal as they age-in-place.
受诗人豪尔赫·路易斯·博尔赫斯（Jorge Luis Borges）关于接受的暗示启发，本篇评论突出了一位老年妇女和她的小猫被逐出经济适用的独立生活设施的事件，这代表了排他性的做法和政策，这些做法和政策损害了一些低收入老年人就地养老的能力。尽管为促进就地养老所做的努力已将住房作为一项关键需求，并提供了晚年与动物伴侣相伴的公共卫生方面的证据，但加拿大和其他地方仍然缺乏社会和其他类型的经济适用房，无法让老年租户独立居住并与伴侣动物一起生活。然而，在私人住房市场中，伴侣动物可能被用作营销策略，“宠物”被欢迎进入租赁安排。鉴于这种手段模式的差异，本篇评论对政策和实践层面上持续存在的低估人类与动物关系的问题提出了质疑。此外，将伴侣动物禁止在经济适用房内居住，这种做法包含了一种可接受但又阴险的做法，即对那些尚未达到理想化的负责任老龄化观念（包括拥有住房）的老年人的生活进行监管。我们通过倡导提供足够的经济适用房机会，将这两个问题联系在一起，让低收入的老年人可以选择建立一个包括伴侣动物的家，从而实现就地养老。
