Authorizing the City Council's Committees on Public Health and Human Services and Housing, Neighborhood Development and the Homeless to hold joint hearings on how the Aging in Place model could strengthen Philadelphia neighborhoods by providing supports and services to seniors in their own homes.

WHEREAS, The Aging in Place model is a concept that allows older adults the choice of remaining in their home through a multidisciplinary approach that includes, health care, home repair services, companionship and food preparation, resulting in the maintenance of individual’s independence; as opposed to being removed from familiar preferred surroundings, to a more restrictive living environment; and

WHEREAS, According to a July 2008 report by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) on Long Term Care Reform, the overwhelming majority of people age 50 and older (84 percent) want to “age in place,” and 87 percent of those with disabilities prefer to live in their homes ; and

WHEREAS, The Pennsylvania Department of Aging reports that there are over 2,400,000 Pennsylvania residents over age 60. More than 240,000 Pennsylvania residents are over age 85. Out of the fifty states, Pennsylvania has the third highest percentage of elderly residents but one in five older Pennsylvanians live in or near poverty; and

WHEREAS, AARP reports that Assisted Living costs within the Commonwealth are approximately $32,000 per year; $82,490 per year for a private room in a Nursing Home; and approximately $20/hr for Home Health Aide services; and

WHEREAS, Philadelphia aged population projections from Philadelphia Corporation for Aging reports that

by 2015 there will be a surge in the number of the region’s frailest elderly, persons 85 and older, as well as among persons age 55 to 74; and

WHEREAS, The Philadelphia Corporation for Aging reports that the City’s elderly population faces housing-related problems that include: insufficient supply of subsidized housing units; deteriorating housing stock and long wait lists for subsidized repairs; a shortage of affordable and accessible rental housing; insufficient supply of handicapped-accessible housing; problems with regulation and supply of personal care boarding homes, and vulnerability to predatory lending practices that lead to foreclosures

;

now therefore

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA

,

That it hereby authorizes

City Council’s Committees on Public Health and Human Services and Housing, Neighborhood Development and the Homeless to hold joint hearings on how the Aging in Place model could strengthen Philadelphia neighborhoods by providing supports and services to seniors in their own homes.

End