Interdisciplinary, technology-supported, climate-friendly professional housing advice as a contribution to improving the living environment in Brandenburg

Abstract

Purpose The article unfolds the heterogeneous supply structure of professional housing counselling in the in Brandenburg, which is to be established there. Professional housing counselling is intended to inform those seeking advice and relatives reactively or preventively (Niepel, 1997) about the options for designing age-appropriate, independent and self-determined housing and living with the focus on strengthening individual lifestyles, relationships and networks. Internationally, studies on housing counselling focus on medical aspects (Carnemolla & Bridge, 2020).Overall, differences can be observed in terms of the institutional location, form of counselling and professional group of counsellors, who are increasingly including technology counselling, which consists of smart home applications and ambient assisted living systems,. (Weidekamp-Maicher et. al., 2022). Whether the conversion, extension and energy-efficient refurbishment as well as climate protection are successful for both the 55.1% of people living in rented accommodation and the 44.9% (Destatis, 2024) who own their own home depends on the extent to which support programmes prevent "residential segregation" as part of future development (Großmann, 2020). In Brandenburg, housing advice is offered at 45 contact points of the care support centres by full-time employees as free, outreach or telephone advice. Independent providers and tradespeople are also part of the counselling process. (Brandenburg care support centres, n.d.a; Brandenburg care support centres, n.d.b; Hahnel et al, 2021) On the one hand, the quality of the counselling is ensured by client-centred counselling, which embeds the individual in their specific social and material circumstances and living environment (Seithe 2008). On the other hand, biographical work is of great importance in dealing with the needs of the target group, in that the ageing person is seen as the designer of their environment and thus of their decisions (van Rießen et al. 2017; Krecan-Kirchbichler & Klingenberger 2012). The preventive aspect of preventive home visits is also important (Blotenberg & Seeling, 2021). It is used to prevent the increase in the need for care, which in Brandenburg is 7.3% (Statista, 2023; MSGIV, 2023) compared to the national average (6.0%). In the transfer of knowledge on practical issues such as housing (Ludwig, 2008), areas of tension in the provision of services of general interest, demographic change and transformation are addressed. For this reason, an interdisciplinary perspective that combines well-founded social expertise and specialist competences from different subject areas must be brought together in a multi-professional negotiation process.

Method Extensive research was carried out to develop the research field, which reflected the status of professional housing counselling in Germany as well as in Brandenburg and which highlighted research desiderata such as the lack of a housing concept in Brandenburg. In addition, individual aspects such as the financing of housing counselling and the development of structures were empirically examined in an exploratory process.

Results and Discussion

The results show that housing counseling in Germany is inconsistent and that a concept is needed in Brandenburg that takes particular account of structural weaknesses. It also needs to be clarified how multi-professional counseling skills can be networked on an interdisciplinary basis.