Older adult housing program receives expansion grant
Affordable housing for Pennsylvania’s older adults is increasingly within reach.
In June, the state’s Department of Aging, together with the Pennsylvania Association of Area Agencies on Aging (P4A), announced a $210,000 grant to expand the Elder Cottage Housing Opportunity program across Pennsylvania.
“Affordable housing is an issue facing our aging population in every corner of the commonwealth. Innovative housing projects like ECHO cottages are but one of the alternatives we need to consider when trying to find solutions for this growing concern. These cottages support independence and provide privacy for older adults whose families may have been considering long-term care placement for their loved ones,” Secretary of Aging Jason Kavulich said in a press release. “More importantly, they reduce stress on the caregiver and preserve the dignity and independence of the older adult.”
Elder cottages are small, manufactured homes temporarily placed in a family member or friend’s back or side yard, so that an older adult may live independently within reach of loved ones who can offer assistance when needed.
The cottages are often a stepping stone between total independent and assisted living and cost no more than 30% of the older adult’s monthly income.
When no longer necessary, the cottage is moved to a different location, to serve another older adult.
Currently, there are elder cottages in 10 of the state’s Area Agency on Aging service areas, said Patricia Clark, Pennsylvania Department of Aging Housing and Community Services Division Chief.
“In terms of those that are supported through PHSA, through P4A and our program, we’re in 10 service areas. There could be more that we’re not aware of,” said Clark. “There are currently six cottages that have been fully placed and have older adults living in them. We have seven more that are in the process; they’re already either built and ready to be placed or they’re just being built.”
One of the elder cottages readying for placement is in Fayette County, the first of the Southwestern Pennsylvania Area Aging on Aging’s (SWPA AAA) three-county service area to welcome an ECHO cottage.
“The ECHO housing is only available in Fayette County at this time,” said SWPA AAA Executive Director Leslie Grenfell. “We are working through some of the zoning issues with the local municipalities.”
Like other agencies on aging statewide, the SWPA AAA has run into utility, sewage and other slowdowns with the ECHO program.
“Really it’s a matter of each Area Agency on Aging or locality deciding whether it would be a good fit in that county,” Clark said. “There are sometimes local zoning rules that the Area Agency on Aging and their housing partner need to work through. It’s really cottage by cottage being built and whether it makes sense for that local community to have cottages there.”
The first ECHO cottage was placed in Clearfield County in 2018. Since then, the program has slowly expanded, thanks to grant funding and community partnerships. Clark said the DOA will continue applying annually for grants to build more ECHO cottages to make senior housing more attainable for older adults.
“I think the ECHO cottages do work, are especially successful in some of the rural counties where we may not see as much senior housing available. In the urban counties, you might see more senior complexes. In the rural counties, ECHO is an especially good option to have,” Clark said. “It would be wonderful to have a cottage in every county in the state.”