Kuala Lampur, Jan. 29 -- After thirty years of paying off a housing loan, retirement should feel like the finish line. You expect to rest in the sanctuary you built. Yet for many Malaysian seniors, the home has become a financial trap. This is the silent crisis brewing behind the high-rise walls of our strata developments. While we often discuss the "sandwich generation" or the depletion of EPF savings, we rarely discuss the brutal reality of what it actually costs to stay in your own home when you are old, frail and earning zero income.

By 2030, according to many estimates, we will be an aged nation. Culturally, the solution has always been simple. Parents live with children or stay in the family home. The concept of "Ageing in Place" i...