Sometimes it takes more than adding a ramp or installing grab bars to make older residents safe and secure in their longtime homes.
For nearly a decade, Northern Ocean Habitat for Humanity has adopted a holistic approach to helping older homeowners age-in-place, one that combines crucial home repairs with sorely needed community resources and connections.
That’s the holistic approach behind this Habitat affiliate’s Housing Plus Aging in Place program, a service that relies not just on an experienced construction crew and volunteers but also a veteran social worker to ensure older homeowners’ safety and wellbeing.
The program is in huge demand in Ocean County, which has one of the highest percentages of residents over 60 in the state. Being selected for the New Jersey Age-Friendly Grants program enabled Northern Ocean Habitat for Humanity to whittle down its wait list of 34 homeowners and reduce average wait times from 9 to 12 months to only 2 to 3 months, said Kristine Novakowski, chief executive officer of Northern Ocean Habitat for Humanity
Habitat for Humanity is a global organization that allows its affiliates to tailor their programs to the needs of the communities they serve, Novakowski said. This means not every Habitat chapter around the country – or even every New Jersey affiliate – is certified to offer the Housing Plus Aging in Place program.
“Here in Northern Ocean County, it is probably the bulk of what we do,” Novakowski said. “The need for these services is high – and growing every year.”
The average age of the homeowners the organization has served is 73 years old, and the average age of the homes they repair is 47 years, meaning most were built before the advent of universal design principles or passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act
The program includes a “layered assessment” to determine the health, social, financial, transportation and other essential needs of the low- and moderate-income older homeowners eligible for its no-cost services, as well as the repairs needed to their home.
Rather than just performing the specific repair that a client might initially be seeking – such as the frequent requests the nonprofit gets to install grab bars or a ramp, the agency will first perform a full home-safety-and-efficiency assessment.
This often leads to the agency discovering problems the homeowner might not be aware of or might not have had the means to fix – such as leaky roof that’s causing mold damage, or drafty windows or doors, or a malfunctioning kitchen appliance.
One client assisted with the help of the age-friendly grant program was Anthony, who lives in Pine Ridge at Crestwood, a manufactured home community in Manchester Township. Anthony’s home received several important upgrades, including new windows, skirting, and gutters, as well as electrical repairs and the replacement of a stove, all of which should protect from serious weather events and help lower his utility costs.
Another beneficiary of the grant funds was Nancy, a retired social service worker whose home had its windows and doors replaced, new insulation installed as well as new paneling and floors. “I’m no longer embarrassed by my home, and that means the world to me,” Nancy said after the project was completed.
In addition to assessing and planning repairs to a home’s physical features, a social worker visits each homeowner to determine if they are struggling with daily living activities, putting food on the table, paying their utility bills, cleaning their homes, or running errands.
If any of those hardships are occurring, the social worker will make referrals to other resources or services, with the mission of improving the long-term mental and physical health of the homeowners, decreasing their health and housing-related expenses, stabilizing finances and connecting them to socialization opportunities.
Northern Ocean Habitat for Humanity partners with many community organizations, government entities and social welfare agencies in the region and is also an active participant in efforts to improve the age-friendliness of the 20 communities in Ocean that it serves.
“Those partnerships are how many older adults learn about our program, and in turn, are the connections we rely on to connect our homeowners to the resources they will need to continue to age in place,” Novakowski said.