Advocacy Tools for Older Adult Home Modifications
Coalition for Home Repair members have helped more than 79,000 low-income older Americans age in place. In alignment with our goals to expand access to home repair programs nationwide, this toolkit is available at no cost to home repair nonprofits, community leaders, and partners.
Fast Facts: The Need for Home Repairs & Modifications
- Older adults are more likely to own their home than rent. The homeownership rate among households age 65 and over was 79.1 percent in 2022, according to the Housing Vacancy Survey.
- According to an AARP survey, 8 in 10 older adults want to age in their current home or community. However, only 3.5 percent of the US housing stock provides all three critical accessibility features—a no-step entry, single-floor living, and extra-wide doorways and halls—that help households with reduced mobility to live safely and comfortably in their homes. (JCHS 2021 State of the Nation’s Housing Report).
- A report by the University of Michigan brings light to the issue of seniors and people living with disabilities who struggle to access home repair resources due to quickly expended funds and long waitlists. For aging homeowners, "a decline in health is also a decline in [home] maintenance".
- Over 17 million older adults aged 65+ are economically insecure, with incomes below 200% of the federal poverty level (NCOA).
Research Leaders & Databases
Our go-to databases for grant writing research, advocacy, or staying informed:
- Harvard's Joint Center for Housing Studies - Research Area: Aging
- ElderIndex (also linked below with an example data finding)
- PolicyMap
- Housing > Homeowners & Renters > By Age
- National Council on Aging
- USAging
Older Adult Resource Library
Click the + to expand each resource and learn more.
The blog post summary of report findings as they relate to the mission of the Coalition for Home Repair can be found here.
On-Demand Webinar:
Using Medicaid for Home Modifications
The Coalition's Grants Compliance Officer, Jill Webber, led this presentation about how home repair organizations can leverage Medicaid resources and benefits to support repairs and modifications for clients. Robin Hartmann, Executive Director of Umpqua Valley Habitat for Humanity, and Virginia Ohler, Executive Director of West Tuality Habitat for Humanity, also shared about their experiences utilizing Medicaid in providing home modifications.
How the Coalition Supports Aging in Place Programs
Coalition for Home Repair members have helped more than 79,000 low-income older Americans age in place. Over the years, Coalition for Home Repair members have consistently reported rising numbers in the number of older adults they serve and another constant, is that the older population is the largest share of residents served by our Coalition members when measured collectively. In program year 2022, Coalition members each served an average of 95 older adults and in program year 2023, that catapulted to an organizational average of 171 older adults served (an astonishing 80% increase!).
Since 2022, the Coalition has supported home repair nonprofits in their aging in place goals by:
- funding Certified Aging in Place Specialist certifications for 60+ home repair providers
- Securing $1,00,000 for the Older Adult Home Modification Program from HUD
- Providing 500+ training hours on services and repairs relating to helping low-income people age in place
- Conducted a fall-prevention data collection project to garner support from healthcare systems and show the potential financial impact of home modifications
Additionally, our 6-month follow-up findings from our Falls Prevention Data Demonstration Project demonstrated noteworthy decreases in the number of falls within the home (73% decrease) and while entering or exiting the home (89% decrease), pointing towards the positive impacts that a repair project or modification can have on addressing safety in the home. A one-page summary of the 6-month project findings can be found below.
For the Coalition for Home Repair, home repair and modification programs are more than a fix or change to a structure; home repair can proactively reduce homelessness, protect generational assets, stabilize neighborhoods and communities at large, and prevent illness and injury. As a national, nonprofit committed to home repair as a post-purchase approach to maintaining homeownership for low-income households, we are positioned to serve as a convener and activator of change for the benefit of homeowners nationwide, through advocacy for increased investments and resources into keeping affordable homes in conditions that promote aging-in-place and generational wealth building.
