February the 13th, 2024 – Following on from Legrad’s ridiculously cheap houses, another very commendable plan is currently in the works – this time aimed at elderly people.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the Legrad Municipality has become known to the public in recent weeks for its project of selling houses to young families for a mere 0.13 euros. That story has overshadowed just about everything else, but Legrad has also been planning the construction of a settlement for the elderly where residents would have access to all the necessary care, such as gerontologist carers and medical staff.
The Mayor of Legrad Municipality, Ivan Sabolić, confirmed recently that they’re currently planning the phased construction of a settlement where only elderly people would live. It would be a home for the elderly and infirm, but conceived quite differently from current such institutions such as care homes.
The idea was born when they realised that due to legal obstacles, they wouldn’t be able to realise the project of converting the old school into a “living room” for people who need constant care, according to N1.
Many families in Legrad have people who can’t be cared for during the day because everyone in the household is at work. The municipality therefore wanted the elderly and infirm to be able to spend that part of the day in Legrad’s “living room”, where gerontologists, medical staff, etc, would provide them with all the necessary care.
After they were forced to abandon that project, they started to develop the idea of building a settlement for the elderly and infirm that would house permanent residents, as well as those who would spend only part of their day there.
Sabolić pointed out that it is simply not possible to realise this in a short period of time, and it will take years to come to fruition. With that being said, to begin with, they would purchase a few smaller local houses and form a small neighbourhood for older residents.
If it turns out that the project makes sense, Legrad would then buy several hectares of land and more seriously expand the settlement with single-family houses. This process would take place in stages, that is, according to the number of requests for the actual accommodation of the elderly and infirm, and regarding the part of the settlement would be reserved as a “living room”.
Sabolić stated that they are currently seriously mulling over the idea of the settlement not being reserved exclusively for residents of Legrad. He said that eventually, this facility would become open to users from other counties.
“Due to the negative demographic picture of Croatia, projects like this are long overdue throughout the country,” said Sabolić, who sees no reason as to why Legrad shouldn’t be the first in Croatia to replicate projects common in many other countries. Legrad is a quiet place to live in with a few thousand inhabitants, and is surrounded by nature, making it more than suitable for the realisation of an idea like this.
At the same time, Sabolić has readily “challenged” other municipalities and cities to join in so that the housing of the elderly population across the Republic of Croatia will take on a completely different form than it has so far. He said that he won’t be remotely sorry if someone with a bigger budget overtakes Legrad, and that it is very important that Croatia truly becomes a country that takes care of its elderly population.
