Home Modification and Repairs for Older Adults: Challenges and Opportunities for State Units on Aging: This report by the USC Fall Prevention Center of Excellence and ADvancing States reports on a national survey

GOVERNOR’S OFFICE OF ELDERLY AFFAIRS STATE OF LOUISIANA (State Unit on Aging)

State Units on Aging (SUAs) are designated state-level agencies that develop and administer state plans that advocate for and provide assistance, including home modifications or repairs, to older residents, their families, and adults with physical disabilities. SUAs administer funds, including Older Americans Act funds, which may be used to support home modification or repair services through local Area Agencies on Aging and other state and local entities. The Louisiana SUA’s specific home modification efforts include:

1. Working with Restore Louisiana which focuses on the recovery process after historic flooding in March and August 2016. Assistance is available for accessibility improvements for applicants with disabilities or their household members. Any accessibility features that were present in the home and destroyed or damaged by flood waters may be assessed for replacement.
2. Engaging in partnership development at the local level for home modifications (e.g., St. John Parish ramps provided through donations of lumber from community and donation of labor)

LOUISIANA OFFICE OF AGING AND ADULT SERVICES

1. Children’s Choice (CC) Waiver
Program Description: This Medicaid Waiver provides supplemental support services, including environmental accessibility adaptations, in an annual package to children from 0-20 years of age with developmental disabilities who currently live at home with their families or with a foster family.
Population Served: Individuals who meet the Louisiana Medicaid eligibility, age 0-20, meet the Louisiana definition of disability before the age of 22, and meet the intermediate care facility-intellectual disability level of care criteria.

2. Community Choices Waiver 
Program Description: This waiver program provides environmental accessibility adaptations (home modifications to aid in self-care) in the home and community to older adults or adults with disabilities who qualify.
Population Served: Participants must be 21 years and older, Medicaid eligible, and meet nursing facility level of care.

3. New Opportunities Waiver
Program Description: This Medicaid Waiver program provides services, including environmental accessibility modifications, designed to assist people with living as independently as possible.
Population Served: Louisiana residents age 3 years and older who meet Medicaid eligibility, the Louisiana definition of developmental disability, and intermediate care facility-intellectual disability level of care criteria.

4. Permanent Supportive Housing (PSH) Program
Program Description: This program provides affordable rental housing with individualized services to people with severe and complex disabilities, enabling them to live successfully in the community. It includes making the unit where the tenant lives accessible.
Population Served: Low-income Louisiana residents with a significant, long-term disability who currently receive either Mental Health Rehabilitation Services, an eligible Medicaid waiver, Ryan White services, or Medicaid institutional services such as nursing home or intermediate care facility for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and is in need of housing supports offered by the PSH Program.

5. Residential Options Waiver
Program Description: This waiver program provides supports and services that assist people with transitioning from intermediate care facilities for persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities to their own home in the community. Services may include environmental accessibility adaptations.
Population Served: Louisiana residents who are Medicaid-eligible, meet the definition for a developmental disability which manifested prior to age 22, and meet intermediate care facility-intellectual and developmental disabilities level of care criteria.

LOUISIANA STATE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE

Louisiana Accessible and Barrier-Free Tax Credit
Program Description: The Louisiana Accessible and Barrier-Free Tax Credit provides an income tax credit for the owner of a newly constructed one- or two-family dwelling or existing dwellings that contain accessible and barrier-free design.
Population Served: Taxpayer households that include an individual with a physical disability who requires, or will require, accessible and barrier-free design elements to live in the home. A homeowner can also claim the credit if they rent their dwelling to an individual who requires an accessible residence.

LOUISIANA STATE FALL PREVENTION COALITION

Louisiana Fall Prevention Coalition
Contact: Lynn.Watson@LA.gov
For an up to date list of all state fall prevention coalitions, visit: https://www.ncoa.org/resources/list-of-state-falls-prevention-coalitions/

LOUISIANA STATE ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY PROGRAM

Louisiana Assistive Technology Access Program (LATAN)
The State Assistive Technology Grant Program, funded under the Assistive Technology Act of 2004, supports comprehensive, statewide programs in each state that improve the provision of assistive technology (often home modification-related) to individuals with disabilities of all ages.

1. To locate the Area Agency on Aging in your state, please contact Eldercare Locator at https://eldercare.acl.gov/Public/Index.aspx

2. Data Brief: Building Community Capacity to Serve Older Adults: The Role of Area Agencies on Aging in Home Modifications and Repairs
This Data Brief highlights key findings from the 2019 National Survey of Area Agencies on Aging on how Area Agencies on Aging are providing and funding home modification and repair activities. It was developed by the USC Fall Prevention Center of Excellence in partnership with the National Association of Area Agencies on Aging as part of the Administration for Community Living project, “Promoting Aging in Place by Enhancing Access to Home Modifications.”

3. Featured Efforts:

Minor Home Repairs
Council on Aging: Saint Tammany (COAST)
Covington, Louisiana
COAST (Council on Aging St. Tammany) provides minor home repair services to seniors with no other options for having the work completed.

Repairs on Wheels
Volunteers of America
New Orleans, Louisiana
Repairs on Wheels of Volunteers of America performs safety reviews relative to the need for home repairs and modifications and provides education on home safety. Minor home repairs, small modifications, and wheelchair-accessible ramps are available for no charge. The population served includes low-income residents and people with disabilities in Jefferson, St. Charles, St. Tammany, and St. John parishes and in the City of Kenner.