Nursing homes

Are you elderly and unable to manage in your current home – maybe because you need a specially adapted home, or are you dependent on nursing and care several times a day? Then the municipality must offer you suitable accommodation.

Types of housing for the elderly

• Senior housing
• Assisted living accommodation
• Nursing homes
• Private care homes

You may be allocated senior housing if you need housing which is specially designed for the elderly.

If you need accommodation in a nursing home or assisted living accommodation, the municipality will offer you such accommodation within 2 months of you being admitted to the waiting list (the assisted living guarantee).

If you need to go into a nursing home, this is because you require care and assistance several times a day and this care cannot be provided in any other accommodation, only in a nursing home.

Since October 2018, there has been a national survey of nursing homes (Social Services Gateway), which provides information and an overview of all nursing homes, care centres and private care homes. The purpose of the national survey of nursing homes is to support freedom of choice of nursing homes and to support fair competition between private and public providers.

You receive the same help in assisted living accommodation and in a nursing home. The rules governing assessment and moving in are the same for assisted living accommodation and nursing home accommodation.

How much does it cost to live in a nursing home?

• In nursing homes built before 1988, the residents pay rent, heating and electricity. No deposit is paid.
• There are often different levels of rent in each nursing home as this is set on the basis of the home’s budgeted operating costs and the resident’s income.

What is a private care home?

A private care home is a care home which is provided by the private sector. This means, among other things, that you can only be assessed for a private care home in the municipality where you live, and not by the municipality you may potentially move to if you choose a private care home in another municipality.

Who can get a place in a private care home?

If you are assessed as eligible for a place in a care home, you have the right to choose a private care home. This applies regardless of whether the private care home is located in your own municipality or in another municipality. You can get a place in a private care home if you need a high level of care, just as with ordinary care homes which have associated care and services and staff who can help you with your needs.

The municipality will conduct an assessment if it has been contacted by you, your family, your doctor or hospital referring you to move into, for example, a retirement home. This means that the municipality will make a decision on whether you can be approved for a place in senior housing, an assisted living accommodation or a nursing home. The municipality bases this on your specific needs in relation to your physical, psychological and social situation.

The assessment of an application takes place in the context of the municipality’s other services for people living in their own homes, for example personal care and practical assistance, day centres and old people's homes, short-term or regular day or night care, home adaptations to the current accommodation, specific support or respite care or substitute carers to support a partner or other relatives with care responsibilities.

There is no entitlement to a place in senior housing merely on the basis of old age.

Waiting time guarantee

If you have been assessed as eligible for a place in assisted living accommodation or a nursing home and have been placed on the general waiting list, the municipality must offer you accommodation within 2 months of you being placed on the waiting list. The accommodation must be ready for you to move into no later than 2 weeks after the deadline expires.

The municipality can comply with the guarantee by offering accommodation within the municipality or in another municipality where they have an agreement allowing them to allocate accommodation.

If you reject an offer, you are not removed from the waiting list, but you do start again with a deadline of 2 months.

If you do not agree with the municipality's decision, you may make a complaint to the municipality within 4 weeks. The decision must be re-assessed within 4 weeks of the complaint being received.

If the municipality upholds its decision, it will forward your complaint to the National Social Appeals Board, which will rule on the decision.

• Law on social housing (in Danish)
• Executive order on nursing homes and sheltered housing (in Danish)
• Law on private care homes (in Danish)
• The accommodation guide (in Danish)