WASHINGTON (PRNewswire), June 22, 2005:
Volunteers of America today hosted a policy summit around the issue of improving the coordination of housing, health care and supportive services for seniors in policy and practice. Recommendations from the summit will be forwarded for consideration to the policy committee of the White House Conference on Aging, which will convene in December, 2005.
The summit examined the urgent need to create the policy framework to solve the complex legislative and financing issues to meet the challenges of the coming wave of Baby Boom retirees.
Policy recommendations focused on the need to modernize, preserve, refinance and improve the existing stock of affordable housing and encourage the conversion to service-enriched housing; expand successful housing production, rental assistance programs and supportive housing models; and improve the coordination of long-term care in service-enriched senior housing communities.
"As Baby Boomers age, millions of seniors will lack affordable housing and health care services," said Charles Gould, national president of Volunteers of America. "As one of the largest nonprofit providers of quality affordable housing, Volunteers of America is committed to providing seniors with a decent, affordable and service-enriched place to live."
Gerard Holder, the former executive director of the Commission on Affordable Housing and Health Facility Needs for Seniors in the 21st Century - A Report to Congress, also spoke at the summit.
Representatives from the policy committee of the 2005 White House Conference on Aging, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development attended the event. Also in attendance were senior housing and long-term care facility operators, congressional staff, advocates for seniors and persons with disabilities, and representatives from public policy organizations and national associations representing providers from across the continuum of care.
Senator Paul Sarbanes (D-MD), in his keynote address, noted that the disconnect of housing from services places an enormous burden on seniors and their families in making decisions about long-term care. He thanked Volunteers of America for convening the summit to focus attention on this problem.
Volunteers of America is a national, nonprofit, spiritually based organization providing local human service programs and opportunities for individual and community involvement.
Volunteers of America served nearly 2 million people last year. For more than 100 years, Volunteers of America has promoted self-sufficiency, fostered independence and encouraged the positive development of children and youth, the elderly, homeless individuals and families, and many others.
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