Rebuilding Together OKC, Inc.

PROJECT PURPOSE

Rebuilding Together?s signature Safe at Home program provides no-cost home modifications to people 55 years or older with mobility issues and other disabilities to improve accessibility, reduce falls, increase independence, and facilitate aging-in place. Safe at Home is designed to improve aging-in-place outcomes for low-income older adults through the modification of their home environment to meet their specific needs. Safe and Healthy Housing is the foundation of Rebuilding Together Oklahoma City home repair work, targeting significant safety and health hazards based on the Eight Principles of Healthy Homes? keep it dry, clean, pest-free, safe, contaminant-free, well-ventilated, maintained and thermally controlled. Through critical home repairs and home modifications in underserved communities, we address the connection between health and housing, while preserving the existing affordable housing landscape across the US. RTOKC experience of 30 years working in low-income communities has shown us that the complex problems found in seniors economically distressed neighborhoods require trust building and systematic, coordinated approaches in targeted communities to improve quality of life for our neighbors. The Health & Safety Priorities allow RTOKC to use a framework to articulate our work, assess each home thoroughly and consistently keep track of the results of all repair projects.

EVIDENCE

According to AARP, nearly 80% of older adults would prefer to stay in their current homes as long as possible (2018). Aging in place is also widely understood to be more cost-effective compared to nursing home and assisted living facilities. In fact, for many low-income older adults, aging in place is the only viable option because the cost of assisted living facilities is out of reach. A private room or apartment in an assisted living facility is estimated to cost $48,600 annually, on average? yet the median annual income of clients served by Rebuilding Together is $20,000, well below the federal poverty threshold of for a family of four ($26,200 in 2020) (Genworth, 2019). However, paying for the home modifications needed to safely age in place is often a financial burden for older homeowners living on fixed, limited incomes ? particularly the lowest-income homeowners ? who tend to have higher rates of disability and live in older homes (HUD, 2013).

POPULATION DESCRIPTION

The COVID-19 pandemic has had huge effects on the daily lives of individuals with widespread lockdown and preventative measures have isolated individuals, affected the world economy, and limited access to physical and mental healthcare. While these measures are necessary to minimize the spread of the virus, the negative physical and psychological are evident especially for the most vulnerable population in which RTOKC serves. The substandard condition of housing is a leading contributor to inequities in health status and outcomes. In fact, 80% of health outcomes are related to social determinants: including environmental, behavioral, and socioeconomic factors?and not medical care. The chronic prevalence of unsafe and unaffordable housing in the United States disproportionately affects low income families, households of color, veterans, people with disabilities, and their ability to remain safely in their homes.

PERFORMANCE MEASURING

On average RTOKC receives multiple applications every week. The applications are provided either directly from RTOKC or by more than 30 other collaborating organizations in the county. Once incoming applications and documents are reviewed, eligible applicants are then contacted to schedule a home evaluation to preview the repairs requested. Comparing ?before? and ?after? data highlights the impact of our repairs and modifications in reducing specific health and safety hazards. The 25 Health and Safety Priorities allows us to highlight the results of each project, the impact of each applicant across all projects, and documents the overall impact of the work completed. We can measure the short-term, immediate, and long term outcomes. We keep detailed records of each applicant and repair on Salesforce, a monitoring system. We measure and track each applicant as to which service(s) they receive in order to see fully where our repairs have made difference.

ONGOING INVESTMENT AMOUNT

$

ONGOING INVESTMENT DESCRIPTION

None

ONGOING INVESTMENT REQUIRED

Able to continue operation without additional funding from the State of Oklahoma