Integrating Services for Older Adults in Housing Settings

Abstract

This paper draws on the work of the Housing Plus Services committee of the National Low Income Housing Coalition (to which the authors belong), constituted in 2000. The Committee is comprised of a diverse group of practitioners, administrators, policy analysts, professors, and researchers who share a commitment to the integration of services in housing settings. Committee members present their work, including the typology and principles discussed in this paper, at national conferences (NLIHC, 2005) and contribute to publications on the web (Housing Plus Services Committee, 2005a) and in print (Cohen, Mulroy, Tull, White, & Crowley, 2004), in order to disseminate the work of the NLIHC in this area and engage in dialogue with service providers, housing developers, and policy makers.

The Needs of Elders in Public Housing: Policy Considerations in the Era of Mixed-Income Redevelopment

“…Pooling the financial and creative resources of both public housing and public health experts and working with residents can create local programs that allow seniors to remain in their homes, connected to their communities. The Housing Plus Service model developed by the National Low-Income Housing Coalition, for example, links public and nonprofit professional service providers with landlords and elder residents to ensure that needs are met (Cohen, Mulroy, Tull, Bloom, & Karnas, 2007).…”

An Explorative Study of the Political, Economic, and Social Factors Influencing the Development of Senior Housing: A Case Study of Hong Kong

“…The availability of elderly care practitioners. The provision of elderly care services within senior housing properties requires the employment of well-trained elderly care practitioners, including daily care assistants, nurses, memory care workers, healthcare workers, and social workers, depending on the levels and types of services provided [98,99]. The shortage of elderly care practitioners in the labor market and their resulting high employment costs are common challenges for the development of senior housing [100].…”

Community Aging Initiatives and Social Capital

“…As a housing-plus-services program (Cohen, Mulroy, Tull, Bloom, & Karnas, 2007), NORC programs involve linking people to services in the context of where they live to enhance their quality of life. NORC programs are distinguishable from other place-based services for older adults (such as planned retirement communities) in that the programs are implemented within residential communities that were not intentionally developed as senior housing, but that still house a large proportion of older adults (Hunt & Gunter-Hunt, 1985).…”

“…The lead agencies also developed formal working agreements with service partners to offer a greater number of services to community-residing older adults. Focusing on a program in New York, Cohen and colleagues (2007) similarly highlighted the central role of the program’s advisory board, which consisted of residents and other organizations that advocated for older adults’ unmet needs and that coordinated on-site services.…”