I have been writing the Aging in Place Ideas blog for over 10 years. Awareness of  aging in place has blossomed. The breadth of stakeholders that should be interested is starting to be recognized.  We now have evidence about what works and why to direct our energies. From this, my focus has evolved to building a coalition for financial incentives that encourage people to update their homes regardless of age and health. I founded HomesRenewed to pursue that strategy toward the goal of increasing the number of American houses prepared for residents of the modern lifespan.

This post marks that progress by shifting to the new HomesRenewed Team Blog. Please read it AND sign up. And join the movement to make the benefits of aging in place a realistic possibility. See you in the future!

YOUR signature is needed on the campaign to support HR 1780, the Senior Accessible Housing Act. Tax reform is in the news. Some good and bi-partisan bits may pass with the larger bill. HR 1780 is just that: bi-partisan, a really good idea, minimally controversial and broadly appealing. HomesRenewedâ„¢ will support the bill with visits to congressional offices to align more sponsors. We need your signature to convey the strength and breadth of interest.

Our goals may not be reached with this tax reform. HomesRenewed is in it for the long haul. We advocate incentives to transform America’s housing stock so it better serves residents throughout the modern lifespan. Matching HR 1780’s broad appeal, HomesRenewed is an innovative coalition of consumers, business, not for profits and government agency stakeholders.

Please click on this link, and fill out the form to join the movement to improve housing.

It will only take a minute. It is a good, meaningful and valuable chance to participate.

And THEN: Forward this to your lists, colleagues, friends and social media.

Thanks!

September always brings mixed feelings. Sad that our summer is over, we have the mix of excitement and dread for a return to higher activity levels. This year we are particularly upset for Hurricane Harvey’s victims.* Even those of us at a great distance and with no local relatives or dear friends are overwhelmed at the scale of destruction. It is so clear there will be no returning to normal. Not soon. Probably not ever. That means a new reality, a new normal must emerge. That pheonix, just a little like the return to more attention at work, holds a little excitement about the opportunities Gulf Coast communities have for a fresh start. How can better home design be incorporated in the rebuilding to make even stronger, more resilient communities out of the disaster?

The news is full of stories like this editoral by Paul Krugman in the New York Times about Houston’s lack of zoning as a contributing factor and how disaster rebuilding policy historically means throwing good money after bad.  What can we do to make things better? How can we get houses right when we rebuild?

The difficulties and costs of aging well in existing homes is starting to be recognized. But policies to encourage home updates (in order to reap the benefits of better home design) are not common. This is the opportunity. Rebuilding can include carrots for those who do better. Yes, we need to gather and manage expert panels to describe better…but we should be doing that anyway. The carrots can be lower interest, fast track permitting, cheaper flood insurance if things are better or any number of possible incentives.

Building and development respond to incentives and regulations. Policies incorporate societal goals into the built environment. We need to expand our scope of ‘better’ to include aging in homes in community. Home updates is a ripe place for targeted policies. HR 1780, The Senior Accessible Housing Act and Design for Life Montgomery are early steps. Any large-scale rebuilding efforts are a great place to get the ball rolling.

What are the benefits? Let’s think in terms that are common (dare I say trendy or popular?) these days; sustainability and resilience. Sustainability is ‘using resources without using them up’. Better prepared homes are sustainability in spades. Your home does not become outdated as you age and your mobility, abilities and health changes. This reduces risk for those on a fixed income much like better HVAC (heating/ventilation/air conditioning) and insulation shield homeowners from growing energy costs. Your house value really works for you over the long haul if you can avoid being forced into expensive senior housing. If housing costs are known and fixed before health changes occur your home investment is more sustainable.

Scarce caregiver resources are also used better. Less assistance is needed in a prepared home. Specific caregiver resources like backs that can be injured and energy that can be drained are preserved as well. This works for both family and paid caregivers.

Resilience, in the disaster context is ultimately about preparedness. And this holds true for a “prepared” home in terms of aging – – it is, by definition, resilient.  Think about returning home from the hospital or rehab;  If you can get in and get a shower safely you can return much more quickly. This saves healthcare dollars and recovery is better and speedier in the comfort and familiarity of your own prepared home. Ready for whatever may come its way.

These factors and more have rippling impact on family and community resources. Families get to decide how to enjoy their time together if daily activities are easier to manage. Community resources go farther when members of all ages can balance their caregiving and other responsibilities. That is sustainable use of resources, too.

What can we do? We have to figure that out. I have written one colleague at FEMA with whom I discussed the same issue regarding North Carolina last year. The Universal Design community tried to influence rebuilding after Katrina to little effect. But we need to be creative, together, because we should rebuild Houston, and all our communities better, stronger and more resilient!  Please use the comment section below to explore your thoughts on this topic.

*Who knows what more sadness, destruction (and opportunity?) Hurricane Irma will bring to this discussion by early next week?

87% of Americans want to Age in Place. This repeatedly confirmed and often cited data is behind nearly every article on the older people demographic, caring for our families, preserving social security, medicare and the healthcare system or the market for home remodeling and monitoring technologies. It is, frankly, the rationale for the last 20+ years of my career.

That is all well and good except that “a demographic is not a market“.  What I mean by that is the fact of a huge demographic, even one that expresses an interest that points to economic activity, does not mean that commerce occurs…that money is exchanged for goods and services to fulfill that expressed interest. In plainer language: Just because people say they are interested in aging in place does not in any way mean they are ready to spend money to meet those interests.

This important perspective fits into a topic called the Say/Do Gap. I learned the term “Say/Do Gap” from marketing guru Steve French in a great presentation at the Mary Furlong part of the 2016 American Society on Aging conference.  I have been thinking about the effect and impact for years. But having a name for it is helpful. Now it is real. Now I can share the idea easily because it has a name.

My interest is that so many people say they want to age in place but don’t do anything to prepare. People say they want to be healthy but don’t eat well. Lots of people buy gym memberships in January but they don’t really exercise. People say they want to plan for their retirement but don’t save. You get the idea. Preparing for Aging in Place is similar.

Now, in just the past week, two articles confirm the say/do gap.

Marc Gunther writes in his great blog, Nonprofit Chronicles, about the impact of activist groups on the chicken growing industry he says: “Americans tell pollsters that they care about all this: About 40 percent say they are very concerned or extremely concerned about how chickens are raised or housed, a recent industry survey found. But their actions suggest that they donâ€t care very much: Per capita consumption of chicken has been growing for decades and will reach record levels this year, according to the National Chicken Council.”

In the second article, Ateev Mehrotra of Harvard Medical School and coauthors found that a large majority (72 percent) of respondents said that their out-of-pocket spending played an important role in determining a choice of provider. However, only 13 percent of those surveyed reported seeking information about their expected spending before receiving care, and just 3 percent had compared costs across providers before their medical visit.

The say/do gap in aging in place home upgrade preparation is confimed in a 2016 report from HomeAdvisor. They report a wide discrepancy between what homeowners say they are doing and the calls contractors get about this kind of work.

“Most homeowners over age 55 (67 percent) say they consider themselves to be proactive about making aging-in-place renovations, and a majority (86 percent) feel they are familiar with aging-in-place additions, remodels or products.

Home service professionals tell a different story: More than half (57 percent) of the home service professionals HomeAdvisor surveyed indicate that aging-in-place projects account for less than 10 percent of the work requests they receive. Furthermore, only 20 percent of pros say most homeowners who contact them about aging-in-place projects reach out proactively,…”

What can we conclude? People just don’t do things because they are good ideas or because they care.  We need to motivate them in their own interests.  Motivation comes in the form of incentives, deals and ‘can’t miss’ opportunities. My study of behavioral economics, how people make economic decisions, lead me to a great book called Switch, How to change things when change is hard by Chip and Dan Heath. The Heath brothers say we should look for “bright spots” of behavior change in analogous cases. The bright spots I have been examining include reusable shopping bags, purchase of energy star appliances, hybrid and electric cars and the installation of solar collectors. The say/do gap of concern for the environment is bridged through government carrot or sticks. Incentives work.

The path to create a market for aging in place home upgrades has started. The introduction of US House bill HR1780 by Charlie Crist and Bruce Poliquin is a bright spot in the right direction for aging in place. That is what HomesRenewedâ„¢ is about. Advocacy to support people to do what they say. Let’s do it!

Reactions to reports from the Frameworks Institute about aging issues and communications are strong and well deserved. We’ve needed these insights for a long time.  Nat Kendall-Taylor, Frameworks CEO has a new TED talk: How words change minds: The science of framing that gets at the heart of the Frameworks approach and value. Watch it! Then add your comments to mine below.My reaction to the framewosks reports? Since reading the reports I have said, repeatedly, that, “I’ve probably given more than 200 consumer presentations on this topic. The results are probably next to zeo! This reports validates that feeling. I’ve neen hitting y head agsinst the wall for too long. More and longer bike rides would have been a better use of my time.” This December 2015 blog shows that I suspected these findings. Now we all know.

Your reaction?…as you remember it from when you first read the Frameworks stuff or just now if this is new to you. This is important and worth discussing. This is a forum for that discussion. Have had it.

Happy 4th of July weekend. And summer!

Longevity has to be science’s crowning achievement. What is a more important purpose for our intellectual endeavors than more life? Ranking life expectancy is a common measure of cultural and national success.  ‘Achievement’ is the right word but all consequences are not positive. It is not all success if ‘crisis’ is so commonly used to describe the situation in countries where life expectancy is high. We have a responsibility to recognize, monitor and mitigate negative impacts just as we celebrate, or we risk neutralizing – or worse – our success.

Negative outcomes include poverty, loneliness and medical and care costs that threaten the general economy. Overpopulation increases the burden on the earth’s resources, threatening our planet and all measures of success…including life expectancy. Among many smaller ironies, that our success may be our undoing is also a pinnacle, but not an achievement.

One of these ironies is that longer lives often means inability to participate in the community and being forced from one’s beloved home. Much of our infrastructure predates extended longevity. Transportation is designed for ambulatory commuters. Driving is critical to daily life but difficult and dangerous with age. Basic home design is outdated as well. What we now recognize as common physical changes of aging were not considerations when the standards of home design were adopted.

Updating our housing fits a long and normative pattern of our economy. As I walked in the March for Science this weekend we passed the White House on our way to the Capitol. Plumbing was added to the second floor of the White House in the 1850’s.  Electric lights and steam heating were installed in the Capitol in the late 1800’s. Air conditioning was retrofitted in the 1950’s.

These changes mirror the evolution of our housing technology. Rural America was plumbed and electrified during the 1930’s. Furnaces were added to many homes that had already been in use for many years and then upgraded as homes were also weatherized in response to higher fuel costs. Now we are adding solar collectors and storage batteries.

It’s time to update our homes to match our crowning scientific achievement. There is evidence that home updates result in fewer falls, fewer hospitalizations and reduced time in expensive and depressing rehab facilities. This reduces misery and saves healthcare dollars. It may not be rocket science, molecular biology or gene therapy but it is science, engineering and technology. And it is important.

A bipartisan bill, HR 1780, the Senior Accessible Housing Act, was introduced by  Congressman Charlie Crist (D- Fla.) and others on March 29, 2017. The bill incentives home updates. This bill is successor to last year’s HR5254 introduced by Bruce Poliquin (R-Maine), also a sponsor of this year’s bill.

HomesRenewed, a broad coalition whose mission is to “significantly increase the number of homes prepared for residents throughout the modern lifespan”, supports the new bill. Updating our homes will reduce the burden on families and the healthcare budget. That is a no brainer. Maybe as significant this bill can help fill our responsibility to make sure our scientific success seems like a success to the direct beneficiaries- older Americans who can then live in their homes and communities safely, economically and with dignity.

Updating our homes will reduce the burden on families and the healthcare budget. That is a no brainer. Maybe as significant, updating our housing infrastructure helps fill our responsibility to make sure our scientific success seems like a success to the direct beneficiaries- older Americans who can then live in their homes and communities safely, economically and with dignity.

This is not quite a guest blog because writer Susan Kimmel is my partner in crime and vice president of HomesRenewedâ„¢.

Tax Day is upon us with itâ€s headaches and stress of filling out all that paperwork – but the good news is that over 2/3 of Americans will be receiving a tax refund. The average refund in 2017 is $3000 – thatâ€s a lot of breakfasts at McDonalds! So what else will we do with our money?

A recent study by Bankrate indicates that the majority will put the funds into savings. For the rest, a CBS poll shows it depends on your age and your income level. More than 50% of those over 65 and in the upper tax brackets plan to use their refund on a vacation. And Millennials? Though they have splurged on TVâ€s, phones, cars, etc. in the past, this year they are more likely to use the windfall money to pay down debt – school loans, credit cards, and home improvements.

A survey by Better Homes and Gardens found that millennials define themselves as the fix-it generation. They are buying fixer-uppers as starter homes. Many millennials now have enough equity in their homes to qualify for Home Equity Lines of Credit (HELOCâ€s). With the tax refund windfall they can start making improvements to renovate out-dated kitchens and bathrooms or put on an addition such as a family room.

Wouldnâ€t it be great if they could leverage the windfall by remodeling the “smart” way? Thatâ€s what HomesRenewed is proposing – something similar to the Energy Star program where buying the air-conditioner with the Energy Star logo means an immediate tax savings.

HomesRenewed is working with grassroots groups and business interests to propose legislation that will reduce the cost of improvements that prepare your home for residents throughout the modern lifespan. No matter your age or ability, if you add handrails, grab bars, create a stepless entry or roll-in shower, your home will be updated, safer and qualify for a financial benefit to help pay for the improvement.

These improvements will also increase the re-sale value of your home because, as the US population ages, there is more and more demand for these features. On a national level, upgrading the housing stock will benefit us all by both enabling older adults and those with disabilities to remain active in their communities and by increasing visitability so friends and family who need these features are welcome in many more households.

Look for more from HomesRenewed as we bring this vision into reality!

My dear friend and colleague Patrick Roden, PhD. just put out his list of Aging in Place Influencers for 2016. I want to make an important addition at the top of the list. I nominate Dr. Patrick Roden. There is no more dedicated and passionate advocate.

Patrick’s eyes, ears and keen attention are always roving for new people and new ideas. He has a remarkably open mind. He knows a lot and expresses it well. He is a really pleasant fellow. It carries over to the energy he brings to his website, Aging in Place.com and tweets. I have been appreciating Patrick for years.

Why would I write more? Enjoy what Patrick gives us from his big heart.

Happy holidays. This season’s gift is Patrick.

I was honored to speak at the 2016 Cayman Islands Healthcare Conference. The entire program was open to the general public so this was not a droning professional conference. The very good information presented was balanced for consumers and professionals. I spoke about aging-in-place.

What did I learn?

Dr. C. James Hospedales caught my attention talking about Non-Communicable diseases. These are familiar but I had not thought about them as a category.

Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), including heart disease, stroke, cancer, diabetes and chronic lung disease, are collectively responsible for almost 70% of all deaths worldwide. …. The rise of NCDs has been driven by primarily four major risk factors: tobacco use, physical inactivity, the harmful use of alcohol and unhealthy diets. (WHO)

Dr. Hospedales, ofa very sharp doctor who is currently head of the Caribbean Public Health Agency, helped me see the significance. Obesity, a particularly American problem, was added to the above list.

These diseases are largely about lifestyle. Behavior change is the sweet spot for low cost/high impact results.  This is so interesting because it means improved health (and reduced health care expenses) are not about expensive treatments. Disease avoidance and treatment rest within us and our ability to control ourselves. It may be more important to encourage us to get regular checkups so we find cancer early, treat skin ulcers, etc. than get a more complex diagnosis and care plan. Take better care of yourself.  Exercise. Eat well. Don’t smoke. Drink alcohol moderately.

What connections do I make?

(1) Encouraging self-reliance and chronic disease self-management- taking care of yourself – are, as with aging-in-place in existing homes, some of the best returns on efforts/investment we can get. We already have our most important assets to fight these conditions – ourselves and our homes. We have to use them better.

(2) Business is paying close attention to these strategies because they reduce healthcare spending. Businesses are learning what techniques motivate the right behavior in corporate wellness programs. This knowledge has potential value in many spheres. This week’s Bipartisan Policy Center program, Exploring the Role of the Business Community in Improving Health, covered the topic.

So we are already on the right path, learning how to improve health and reduce healthcare spending by encouraging better behaviors.

Proceedings of the 2016 Cayman Islands Healthcare Conference are available. I really liked presentations by the delightful Dr. Verna Brooks McKenzie speaking about menopause and the humorous Dr. David Greenberg speaking about men’s health. Both are pleasant, funny and right on point.

I also did a little research on Cayman reefs. Beautiful. I had a great time.

housing, innovation, vision and economics

I am honored to be among this year’s cohort of HIVE awardees. I am awed and moved by the company in which I am included. From the letter informing me of my inclusion:

“HIVE is the curtain call to the cast of innovators who will shape housing today and tomorrow. You are being recognized because your contribution has disrupted and transformed the way we think. HIVE is a community to give visibility to these great acts of innovation and to encourage collaboration that can catapult these ideas into mainstream practices while constantly building a platform for new catalysts.”

WHEW!  Thinking about innovation is too often limited to technology, widgets and fast-paced business success, not so much about housing. Hanley Wood, the premier company serving the information, media and marketing needs of the residential, commercial design, and construction industry changes that by introducing HIVE 2016.

“With the HIVE 100 Innovators Award , we salute a unique group of individuals and organizations who represent bold ideas, products and solutions that will help renew the places we all call home and reinvent the cities we live in,” said Peter Goldstone, CEO of Hanley Wood.

“Our trusted editors and advisors used a rigorous process to vet what we believe represents the most compelling figures in innovation and technology in housing today”, said John McManus, Hanley Wood editorial director-residential group.

HIVE 100 spotlights market catalysts and honors individuals who are the vanguard of landscape-changing contributions. The awards are part of Hanley Wood’s groundbreaking HIVE community launch and the imminent, sold-out HIVE 2016 conference. The HIVE community transforms housing with conversation to inspire creativity, higher performance and better solutions in five distinct categories: Design, Demographics, Finance, Business Management and Products.

Thanks for sharing my excitement about this award and visionary housing. I will write again after the HIVE conference next week.

Louis