The Affordable Homes Act, signed in 2024, created the Senior Housing Commission that was charged with considering how to better align housing, home care, and health care policies and programs to increase access and opportunity for residents to age in community. This was to include consideration of incentives to support intergenerational living.
After working through 2025, the commission produced a report called “Building for Aging: Recommendations for Creating Affordable and Healthy Senior Housing.”
The Massachusetts Healthy Aging Collaborative Executive Director James Fuccione was a member of the group as an appointee of the Secretary of the Executive Office of Aging and Independence. MHAC joined other state agency representatives, state elected officials and organizational partners that were convened by the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities. The commission and EOHLC staff also referenced the Massachusetts Healthy Aging Data Reports.
The commission’s report was an extension of the state’s first comprehensive five-year statewide housing plan, “A Home For Everyone” and aligned with other commissions on Accessible Housing and Extremely Low-Income Housing.
The recommendations of the group were organized into four categories:
- Finance and general Development
- Place-Based Services
- Accessibility, Maintenance and Modification
- Housing Lifecycle Management and Search
These recommendations all advance age-friendly community efforts and may be informative to locally-based initiatives looking to strengthen affordable housing options for older adults and people of all ages. Some of the recommendations, such as support for financing accessory dwelling units, are already being developed as the Governor’s office recently announced.
The full report is available here and more information on the commission itself can be found on this EOHLC website.