ACL Awards $2.8 Million in Grants to Fund Shelters for Older Adults

The two-year grants will support the development of innovative and cost-effective approaches for providing emergency shelter and supportive services to meet the unique needs of older adults, as well as practical strategies for implementing those approaches. The goal is to develop models that can be replicated in communities across the country. 

Each of the grantees has a demonstrated capacity to provide comprehensive, personalized supports and resources to address the complex issues and challenges that often accompany the maltreatment experience, which can interfere with long-term housing stability for older adults.

When an older adult experiences maltreatment severe enough to risk their safety, there can be an immediate need to relocate. However, it is often challenging to find emergency and transitional housing options that meet their unique needs. For example, while elder abuse can include intimate partner violence, it also includes family violence, as well as abuse, neglect, and/or exploitation committed by a third party, which is outside of the eligibility requirements of most domestic violence shelters. Even if eligibility requirements are met, domestic violence shelters are often not equipped to provide the continuum of medical, housing, and social service care most needed by older adults. In addition, cases involving older adults often take longer to stabilize, often well beyond this time frame that can be covered by domestic violence shelters.

Elder shelters have arisen as a supported housing option to address these gaps. They provide supportive emergency and transitional housing options, along with comprehensive, personalized supports and resources to address the complex issues and challenges that often accompany the maltreatment experience. These services include, but are not limited to, stable and permanent housing solutions, legal services, transportation, life skills, education, counseling, and services to address trauma.