OLDER ADULT HOUSING

Affordable Homes for Older Adults
Prioritizing Our Elders Healthy Aging Vista on 5th
Recognizing a growing need in Northern Manhattan, AND began a decades-long commitment to building affordable homes for older adults in 1997. That year, we opened our first senior housing project,  Mt. Pleasant Apartments, at 421 East 116th Street.

With the help of Section 202 Capital Grant funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, AND built 63 apartments reserved for residents aged 62 and above, with incomes lower than 50% of the area median income. In 2003, we opened two more buildings –  Lucille C. Clark Apartments at 246 West 112th Street, and  Casita Park Apartments at 100 East 111th Street, bringing the number of AND homes reserved for older adults to 216.

AND recognizes that the need for older adult housing will only grow. The percentage of the U.S. population over 65 is projected to double by 2050 – a change that will require both the construction of new housing and retrofitting existing buildings for an aging population. AND is doing both.

We are working on a new project that will provide 150 new apartments for older adult residents, on which we hope to break ground in 2019. In the meantime, we will soon begin renovations of the common areas and outdoor spaces at our existing senior buildings.

We are also launching a needs assessment to learn more about what kinds of physical space improvements, services, and programming would improve our older residents’ lives. 
In 2017, Enterprise Community Partners launched the Healthy Aging in Affordable Housing Demonstration Project to support owners of affordable housing to address the needs of older adult residents who are aging in place, and to create the evidence base for systems change within the affordable housing industry around senior housing.

The Demonstration provides service connection, physical modifications to apartments to make them more accessible to residents with mobility or perception impairments, and a housing relocation program — a suite of interventions aimed at facilitating healthy aging among low-income older adults residing in affordable housing.

The Demonstration connects residents to professional occupational therapy, case management, benefit counseling and other social services, improves their home environments to support independence and prevent fall injury, and assists frail seniors living on upper floors of walk-up buildings relocate to more accessible apartments.
Photograph of Darrell and his mother, Muriel.
AND was the first housing provider to participate in the pilot, and we continue to work with Enterprise to help develop and hone the program. Enterprise connected Muriel, one of our older residents who lives in a building that is affordable but not built specifically for seniors, with an occupational therapist at NYU Langone Medical Center who assessed Muriel’s needs and limitations in her living space. Enterprise then provided the necessary safety modifications to Muriel’s bathroom and kitchen based on that evaluation. Muriel reported that because of these home modifications, she “feels more secure.” She can take showers, get in and out of the bath tub, use the toilet and reach her cleaning supplies without the fear of falling. “My mother talks about her new grab bars daily,” says Muriel’s son and primary caregiver, Darrell, who had reached out to Enterprise for help. “We are very pleased.” 

Learn more about Muriel and the Healthy Aging in Affordable Housing Demonstration Project at Enterprise’s website.
The Vista on 5th residence, founded in 2000, has a long and successful history as a provider of high quality, compassionate person-centered care. Overlooking Central Park at the northern end of Manhattan’s Museum Mile, the Residence offers a view “and a lifestyle” that is unmatched in New York City.

With 127 apartments, beautiful common spaces, and dynamic activity centers, the Residence was noted by New York magazine as one of the most highly respected older adult care facilities in the region. As one of Manhattan’s only assisted living facilities that accepts Medicaid, Vista on 5th serves as a state and national model for the quality of life that can be achieved for assisted living.

Visit the Vista on 5th website for more information.