The fire that engulfed a residential facility for people on welfare in Sapporo last week, killing 11 residents and injuring three others, highlights the shortcomings in the system to secure housing for poor elderly people who don't have relatives to turn to for financial help — like most of the victims in the late-night Jan. 31 fire. The tragedy underlines the need to tighten regulations for fire-prevention equipment at such facilities. But that alone will not lead to solving a larger issue — the difficulty many low-income senior citizens face in finding affordable housing. Tighter regulations may result in higher rents for the residents or cause financial difficulties to the operators of such facilities. The government needs to tackle the issue of ensuring that such people have adequate housing support.

The Sapporo facility, a partially wooden three-floor building that was about 50 years old, was run by a local company and provided temporary shelter for low-income people until they could find a job or a new residence. The occupants, who included some who required nursing care, were paying monthly rent of ¥36,000. Of the 11 killed in the fire, three were in their 80s, four in their 70s and three in their 60s. Each room, used by a single occupant, contained a kerosene heater and a smoke detector. But under the Fire Service Law, the facility was treated as an ordinary apartment house and its operator was not required to install sprinklers due to its size.

Housing units that are classified as social welfare facilities serving as rental residences for the elderly are required to be equipped with an automatic fire prevention system and guide lights. If a certain portion of the occupants of such a facility are unable to evacuate on their own in an emergency, they must be equipped with sprinklers. Since meals were being provided to some of the occupants at the Sapporo home, the municipal government plans to investigate whether it should have been classified as a residential rental home for the aged.