This survey was undertaken to study the reasons which oblige old men to adopt a lodging-house life, or which induce many of them to prefer such an existence to a more ordered life at home or in residential homes; to examine at the same time the living conditions in lodging houses which appeared from social case-work to vary greatly in their standards; and to determine which factors in lodging-house life might be modified or improved so as to ensure the best living conditions for elderly residents and to reduce as far as possible the incidence of unnecessary illness and admission to hospital.
With the information obtained from the survey it was hoped to promote a better understanding of the problems which beset elderly lodgers and, in so doing, to suggest possible improvements and solutions to those problems.