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Innov Aging
Innov Aging
innovateage
Innovation in Aging
2399-5300 Oxford University Press US 

10.1093/geroni/igaa057.2002
igaa057.2002
Abstracts
Session 5615 (Symposium)
AcademicSubjects/SOC02600
The Relationship Between Housing, Life-Course Transitions, and Old Age Social Exclusion: A Cross-Country Analysis
Wanka Anna 1 Anna Urbaniak 2 Walsh Kieran 3 Oswald Frank 4 1 
Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Frankfurt am Main, Hessen, Germany
2 
University of Vienna, Vienna, Wien, Austria
3 
Irish Centre for Social Gerontology, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Galway, Ireland
4 
Interdisciplinary Ageing Research, Frankfurt, Hessen, Germany
2020 
16 12 2020 
16 12 2020 
4 Suppl 1 Program Abstracts from The GSA 2020 Annual Scientific Meeting “Turning 75: Why Age Matters”596 596
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Gerontological Society of America.2020This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.Abstract
The international literature presents growing evidence of the impact of life transitions in older age on experiences of social exclusion, and place in general and as well as housing in particular potentially play a mediating role in this interrelation. However, the specific mechanisms through which the older adult place relationship mediates exclusionary outcomes of life-course transitions remains poorly understood in the study of ageing. This contribution investigates how older adults’ relationship to their home is interlinked with life-course transitions and old-age social exclusion. To do so, we present case studies from three different countries (Germany, Ireland and Poland), focusing on the individual experiences of retirement and bereavement, and analyze them by drawing on the concepts of the person-environment exchange processes of agency and belonging. Finally, we draw conclusions about how spatial agency and belonging can protect and empower older people at critical junctures in their lives.