NEWS

Innovation@Home: A Contest and a Call for Age-Friendly Housing Practices that Work

Mar 14, 2018

The World Health Organization Global Network of Age-Friendly Communities and Grantmakers in Aging are collaborating on a competition and a call for age-friendly housing practices that can inspire action around the world by showing what can be done and how it can be done.

The initiative, called Innovation@Home, is intended to increase the number and diversity of housing-related approaches available on the Age-friendly World website, an important resource for cities and communities around the world. The Massachusetts Healthy Aging Collaborative encourages local and regional Age-Friendly efforts in the state to submit their policies and best practices.

The Innovation@Home competition is seeking examples of housing initiatives that foster healthy and active aging.  Age-friendly housing enables older people’s basic needs to be met so that they can continue to learn and grow, stay mobile, build and maintain relationships, and contribute to their community.

Housing interventions can take many forms, such as:

  • improving access to a range of housing options that enable people to be safe and comfortable,
  • modifying existing housing and or providing assistive technologies to prevent falls and injuries or compensate for changes in people’s physical or mental capacity,
  • helping older adults, especially on fixed incomes, meet the costs of housing in addition to other basic needs such as food and heating,
  • facilitating access to transportation, shopping, health and long-term care services.

How to participate

Cities and communities can submit innovative housing practices through the Age-friendly World website, using the Submit Your Age-friendly Practice form.

You’ll be asked to provide a summary of the initiative, targeted populations, desired outcomes, community engagement and the role of older people, reflections and next steps.

About the competition

  • Entries are due by 4 April 2018.
  • Practices will be assessed by a panel of judges for relevance, replicability, strong outcomes and innovation. The top three entries will be recognized.
  • Winners will receive free travel to International Technical Meeting on Ageing at Home, in Québec in October 2018, where they will receive a formal award.
  • The winning practices will also be publicized broadly through GIA and WHO networks and publications.

About Innovation@Home

With support from The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, GIA is supporting the Innovation@Home competition as part of a larger initiative to identify a range of housing and related practices that can inspire new age-friendly initiatives in the United States.

About Grantmakers In Aging

Grantmakers In Aging is an inclusive and responsive membership organization comprised of philanthropies dedicated to improving the experience of ageing.  GIA members share a recognition that a society that is better for older adults is better for people of all ages.