Healthy Housing Solutions and NCHH to Evaluate Older Adult Homes Modification Program for PD&R
Media Contact: Christopher Bloom, cbloom@nchh.org; 443.539.4154
COLUMBIA, MD (March 3, 2021) – The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Office of Policy Development and Research (PD&R) has selected Healthy Housing Solutions, a wholly owned subsidiary of the National Center for Healthy Housing, to conduct a three-year evaluation of the implementation and impact of the Older Adult Homes Modification (OAHM) grant program administered by HUD’s Office of Lead Hazard Control and Healthy Homes (OLHCHH). The OAHM program will provide funding to local organizations to make repairs and safety upgrades to the homes of low-income older adults, enabling them to remain in their homes safely and independently. The selection was made in late September 2020 but was formally announced today.
NCHH is working with Healthy Housing Solutions on the design and implementation of the evaluation, which has two major components: (1) an impact evaluation to determine how home modifications affect older adult residents’ health and physical function and (2) a process evaluation to assess challenges, barriers, and successes grantees encounter as they implement this important new grant program and older adult’s perspectives about the grant program process.
Healthy Housing Solutions’ team will use their experience evaluating projects such as the Community Aging in Place—Advancing Better Living for Elders (CAPABLE) approach to develop protocols and collect data to assess the processes employed by grantees to implement the program and the impact the project has on senior participants. The evaluation will focus on approximately 20 grantees and the impact of their activities on an expected 2,000 recipients. OAHM grantees will represent urban and rural communities and offer home modifications in both single- and multifamily homes. The evaluation will compare residents’ self-reported health outcomes and healthcare utilization pre- and post- renovation, as well as other measures, to determine whether their health changed after home modifications.
In preparation for the launch of the OAHM grant program in 2021, Solutions is developing evaluation design protocols and data collection tools, with the goal of having its design plan in place as grantees roll out the program in their community.
###
About the National Center for Healthy Housing
The National Center for Healthy Housing (NCHH) is the preeminent national nonprofit dedicated to transforming lives by transforming housing. Since 1992, NCHH has served as a highly regarded and credible change agent, successfully integrating healthy housing advocacy, research, and capacity building under one roof to reduce health disparities nationwide. Follow NCHH on Twitter (@NCHH), Instagram (@nchhorg), or LinkedIn, become a fan on Facebook, or subscribe to NCHH’s YouTube channel.