Home Modification Resources

Ensuring that homes meet the mobility, sensory and cognitive needs of the older adults who live in them is critical to helping older adults continue living in the community. However, most homes were not built to support the physical changes that often accompany aging. As a result, everyday tasks such as climbing the stairs, standing up in the shower, getting in and out of the bathtub, and reaching objects in kitchen cabinets or other places in the home can become more difficult with age.

By making home modifications, older adults and their families can take steps toward making sure their homes support their changing mobility, sensory and cognitive needs.

In addition to contacting the Eldercare Locator, older adults and caregivers seeking information on home modifications may find value in the following resources.

Helpful Links

• Home Modification Information Network | Source: USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology
  The searchable tool provides information about each state’s home modification policies, funding sources, and programs.
• Consumer Home Safety Checklists | Source: USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology
  The featured checklists help older adults and families identify potential hazards in the home that an be used as a starting point for making home modifications
• Rebuilding Together’s Safe at Home Checklist | Source: Rebuilding Together
  This checklist helps older adults and their families identify home safety, fall hazards and accessibility issues around the home
• National Directory of Home Modification and Repair Resources | Source: USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology
  This webpage provides a listing of home modification and repair programs and businesses available in communities around the country
• Check for Safety: A Home Fall Prevention Checklist for Older Adults | Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  This publication helps older adults identify fall hazards in the home
• What YOU Can Do to Prevent Falls | Source: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
  This brochure identifies actionable steps that can be taken to reduce fall risks around the home
• State Grant for Assistive Technology Program | Program that makes assistive technology devices and services more available and accessible to individuals with disabilities and their families.
• Centers for Independent Living | Centers are private non-profit organizations that assists individuals with significant disabilities to live independently in their homes and in their communities

Eldercare Locator Publications

• Modifying Your Home for Healthy Aging
  This brochure highlights the importance of home modifications in helping older adults continue to live safely in their homes as their mobility, sensory and cognitive needs change
• Preventing Falls at Home
  This brochure describes safety checks older adults can do in and around the house to reduce their risk of falling and help enhance their independent living
• Home Improvement Scams: Tools to Reduce Your Risk
  This brochure features tips and resources to help ensure that older adults can undertake successful home improvement projects