A heartbreaking case of a landlord who denied a young girl who lived in a building but kept her very aged father's house because the landlord wasn’t renting a room, an even worse situation happened is a landlord refused to rent the room that she was trying to rent, leaving her sad and helpless and the old mother was breaking down in tears. This type of attitude we saw from society is very little more than ignorance. One day everyone will grow old. To face rejection as a result is shameful and wrong.
The refusal wasn’t just due to financial trouble or lack of space; it was from age. For them it became very much about low standards and that landlord “was all out of touch with them at all this age.” The girl, who was trying to help her parents for the first time, was shocked at her mother crying in an atmosphere they were in because of her physical condition. And that is so because age discrimination is slowly becoming an invisible, bitter thing about housing and everyday life.
Senior citizens are entitled to dignity and care. They have had families, they have contributed to society and helped build communities. Denying them housing just because of their age is unfair and inhumane. These actions isolate the old too as well and make them feel unwanted and not as hard on them physically. Equal treatment is not charity and much harder to do for the elderly. A more important part of protecting our own future is to respect elders as one day they are going to be just for us to do the same.
Age discrimination is not new. In many cities landlords refuse to rent to families with elders, citing health problems or dependency but it’s because people are so empathetic or even so ignorant. India, which has a history of revering elders, can’t tolerate such practices. Housing is one of the most basic needs the human body has and to refuse it, based on age, is a breach of human rights and the values for which we are all built.
That society must change its attitude towards senior citizens. Landlords and communities should not regard old people as burdens but as valuable members with life experience. That elderly residents and community must not be treated as burdens, and housing discrimination of any age will only end in property prices that need to stop, if policies cannot be grounds but care from being a cause for housing discrimination. The family also needs to protect seniors and they need to remain committed to their elders in a human touch base and dignity.
A landlord refusing housing for a family because of the elderly parents is a wake–up call: I know from experience that insensitivity can hit the most vulnerable. Senior citizens deserve all kindness, respect, safety & security in life. Discrimination against them is shameful; it's a betrayal of humanity. And protecting their dignity is also protecting our sense of ourselves as a society.
