Residential Managers' Experience With Urinary Incontinence in Elderly Tenants

Abstract

Landlords are important "gatekeepers" for frail elderly tenants including those with urinary incontinence (UI). Interviews with 34 landlords reveal that most have dealt with problems of UI. Whereas most residential managers help incontinent tenants, some landlords are rejecting them. Rejection of older incontinent tenants occurs most often in residential hotels, in for-profit buildings, in buildings with more male than female tenants, and in cases of alcoholism or dementia. Incontinence cases that were not solved and remained public were considered appropriate for eviction or placement in more restrictive living environments. Thus UI is a condition that compromises continued community living among certain older renters.