It has been the Swedish tradition to focus on housing in developing strategies to meet the challenges of a greying society. The concept of “aging in place” is defined in Sweden as living in the same apartment after renovation, but now it has a broader meaning - to be able to remain in the regular housing instead of being forced to move to some form of institution. During the 1960s and ‘70s a tradition of community work within social work emerged, inspired primarily by community development projects in the U.S., England and The Netherlands. Participation of social services in community planning is a means to reach this ambition. In the current debate concerning housing for the elderly, there is a goal in Sweden to find the new concept for future elder housing – an idea that could be implemented all over and where the government could allocate subsidies to stimulate the building of senior housing. This is the typical Swedish way. A big challenge to the future structure of welfare for the elderly lies in the ability to strengthen the potential for individual initiatives and mutual help. This will likely develop best in places where the young and old already live and where relationships have developed over many years – in other words, in “normal” residential areas. Proximity of services will not be enough without social integration being a focus. Sweden has experience of developing models for community planning with social goals. To plan accordingly for an aging-friendly society history really matters to learn from earlier mistakes that was far too managed from the top. The challenge lies in developing new strategies in order to encourage the participation and engagement of the elderly in a process managed from the bottom.