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Any process, idea, or plan needs to be continually studied and evaluated to ensure that it is consistently effective and being the best it can be. Like anything else, the aging-in-place movement is not immune to critique, adjustment, and evolution—nor should it be.

A recent article by Athan Bezaitis for the University of Southern California (USC) News addresses this very important and sensibly obvious fact.

Many of the changes and second looks for aging-in-place home modifications may have been indirectly instigated by the current national preoccupation with change that was inspired by the election of our first African-American President.

In fact, the Obama Administration’s plan to retrofit dwellings throughout the country for energy conservation could help millions of seniors age-in-place. Modification companies like Home Evolutions can not only help to accomplish this ambitious infrastructure goal, but they can simultaneous greatly improve the quality of life for innumerable seniors and people with disabilities.

According to USC gerontology professors, Jon Pynoos and Caroline Cicero, the adaptation of safer building codes and the further development of age-friendly communities would also advance this cause. Both agreed that significant changes need to be made to existing coding systems and construction processes. 

Pynoos explained, “Policy responses to support aging-in-place have been piecemeal and fragmented, leaving many older people in homes that are unsupportive and in communities that offer them few housing options. Even worse, we continue to build new homes that lack the features to help the next generation of older persons.”

Cicero and Pynoos both believe that the Obama Administration’s plan to weatherize two million homes as part of its economic stimulus package could be an opportunity to implement home modifications in units occupied by low-income seniors. “The timing is right, especially considering current efforts to promote energy efficiency,” added Cicero.

She also noted that home modification initiatives can capitalize on pending health care reform. “Recognizing the role that repairs around the home can play in fall prevention has a direct effect on the ability to carry out activities of daily living and care-giving.”

In fact, the Independence at Home Act and the Geriatric Assessment and Chronic Care Coordination Act are two current bills that would enable Medicare to play a greater role in the physical safety of seniors who are aging-in-place. “Both aim to increase the home safety of older adults while meeting health care needs and reducing Medicare costs,” Pynoos added.

Although there is a general absence of effective federal laws that make the construction of new homes favorable to aging-in-place, two grassroots movements have gained traction on both the state and local levels:  visitability and universal design.

Cicero described visitability as providing “basic accessibility on the first floor of a home for its residents and making it possible for persons with disabilities to visit other people’s homes.” Its four main components include a zero step entrance, interior doors with a minimum width of 32 inches, an accessible route inside the house, and a half bathroom on the first floor. Since 2007, the visitability movement has resulted in building code changes in 17 states and 30 cities, affecting over 30,000 homes.

Based on the principle of equity for persons of all ages, sizes, and abilities, universal design is another promising concept for elder-housing advocates. A universally designed home has features that can be added with relatively minimal extra costs, such as accessible entries, variable height countertops, front-loading appliances that include washers and dryers raised off the floor, doors with either lever handles or automatic openers, and ‘livable’ first floors. “Such housing that is designed better for older and disabled people enhances the lives of everyone,” added Pynoos.

Calling for a “lifespan perspective” in building housing and planning for communities, Pynoos and Cicero believe that by 2030, there are likely to be more than 28 million adults in the United States over the age of 65 with disabilities. “Universal design prevents the need for major remodeling, retrofitting, and modifying—it fits with the greater, overall movement of sustainability.”

But changes only to the inside of houses are not enough. We must start looking outwardly to modify how our communities serve seniors and people with disabilities. Outside of the home, aging-friendly cities and towns should begin to universally provide features such as easily-usable transportation, well-maintained sidewalks, accessible retailers, excellent social services, and comprehensive health care.

Cicero called this new trend in community planning ‘smart growth’ because it provides infrastructural design that is beneficial to people across all stages of their lifespan. “Aging advocates need to take advantage of the public debate about ‘smart growth’ and consider it an opportunity for educating local communities.”

Pynoos and Cicero also support the development of ‘infill housing’ such as Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) on traditional, single-family lots. “ADUs can provide benefits for local governments through increases in property tax bases and expansion in the supply of affordable housing. They help delay the need for nursing home care and provide the possibility for intergenerational intentional communities in which people of all ages care for each other,” Pynoos explained.

Both elder-housing advocates feel that in spite of the current economic climate, aging-policy lobbyists should increase pressure on municipal governments to encourage the development of features that make local communities safer and more enriching for people of all ages. “With baby boomers on the brink of becoming senior citizens, the opportune time to make aging-in-place a priority is now,” concluded Cicero.