Senior services residences: who are they for?
Last updated: Jun 27, 2025
Senior services residences welcome older people who are independent, or relatively independent, into private homes combined with shared services. Occupants may be tenants who sign a lease, or owners.
Senior services residences are often built close to shops, transport links and local services.
They are run by private commercial companies, and sometimes by non-profit associations. This type of housing is a private-sector offer.
Who are senior services residences for?
Senior services residences are designed for:
older people who are independent or relatively independent,
living alone or as a couple,
who can no longer, or no longer wish to, live in their own flat or house,
who are looking for a way to keep an active social life.
Please note: Senior services residences are not social or medico-social establishments, and they are generally not suited to welcoming dependent people.
How do senior services residences work?
Choosing to live in a senior services residence means you can carry on living independently while enjoying a safer environment and shared services (catering, housekeeping, activities, etc.).
The homes
Senior services residences are made up of private apartments, sometimes individual bungalows, along with shared spaces used by all the occupants.
A senior services residence is the occupants’ main home. They can:
bring their own furniture,
carry out work to adapt their home to their needs.
To find out more, see:
the article on the tenant’s use of the home and alterations on the service-public.fr website
the article on adapting your home
The services on offer
Occupants can benefit from two types of service:
non-individualised services: a personal welcome for residents and their visitors, security arrangements, free access to shared social spaces and to the landscaped gardens;
individualised services: “à la carte” services, billed according to what the occupant actually uses.
Occupants can call on the various schemes designed to prevent loss of independence and support living at home, on the same terms as in any other home: personal care services, home nursing care, and more.
The residents’ council
French law created a residents’ council, allowing the occupants of a senior services residence to be consulted on decisions about how the services are managed. This residents’ council is compulsory for residences created after 2015.
How much does it cost?
For senior services residences held in co-ownership, the French law of 28 December 2015 on adapting society to an ageing population introduced new provisions to give occupants better protection as consumers.
Residences created since 2015 must draw a distinction between:
co-ownership charges
and service charges, which are themselves split into charges for non-individualised services and charges for individualised services.
For occupants who rent in a senior services residence, the cost of their home breaks down as follows:
the rent and the recoverable rental charges,
the service charges, which are themselves split into charges for non-individualised services and charges for individualised services.
What financial support is available in a senior services residence?
People living in a senior services residence may, subject to conditions, be entitled to various forms of support:
support for day-to-day difficulties: help from pension funds, the APA (French personal autonomy allowance) at home, home-help support, tax relief for home help,
housing support: the APL (French personalised housing benefit) or the ALS (French social housing allowance).
To find out more, see the article on financial support in senior services residences.
Please note: Unlike résidences autonomie (French sheltered housing schemes, formerly logements-foyers), senior services residences do not have a social housing purpose. They are not approved for the ASH (French social assistance towards accommodation costs).
At OBEO Résidences, we firmly believe that quality of life comes from everyday enrichment. We build strong bonds with our residents and our teams, and we base our company project on a spirit of service, on listening and on respect.
A comparison of the senior services residences at OBEO Résidences: HERE