Few Americans have heard of NORCs – Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities – but as our population ages, NORCs are becoming an increasingly important consideration as policy makers try to plan for housing and service needs of seniors.

    Recently, Sen. Barbara Mikulski and I were able to obtain $1 million in appropriations to fund a demonstration program to provide supportive services to seniors who are living independently in Baltimore's Park Heights community.

    The $1 million demonstration project will help Comprehensive Housing Assistance Inc. (CHAI) establish a program that will provide new support services so that seniors can continue to live independently and age in place. This federal funding will enable CHAI to provide additional housing options and social services for nearly 1,000 seniors living independently in northwest Baltimore.

    Across the country, more than 10 million seniors currently reside in NORCs, which include apartments, condominiums, public housing or neighborhoods in which there are concentrated pockets of people who have aged in place and want to remain independent. The number of seniors will dramatically increase as the babyboom generation grows older and needs more services.

    The demonstration project in Baltimore that will be administered by CHAI will coordinate services that are needed by this senior population. That includes modernization and retrofitting of facilities; nutritional assistance; preventive health and home health services; mental health counseling; cultural and educational training and multigenerational community building.

    CHAI was chosen for this project because of its commitment to helping seniors live independently. In 1997, CHAI established a Senior-Friendly Apartments program to promote affordable rental apartments along the Park Heights corridor as housing for seniors. CHAI also has established an Eating Together program twice a week with transportation provided.

    The challenge for CHAI under this grant is to expand these services and to include seniors who may live in their own homes. The plan is to involve nonprofit organizations in collaboration with local social service agencies, building owners/managers, philanthropic organizations and NORC residents.

    In the past, the lack of services for seniors has forced many of them into group arrangements to get the support services they need. The hope is that this Baltimore program will become a model for the whole nation on how to successfully maintain seniors in their own residences.

    Helping seniors live independently for as long as possible is the right thing to do, and it also makes economic sense. According to estimates by the Department of Health and Human Services, in 2000 the government spent $98 billion for seniors who require institutionalization. If we can delay the need for institutionalization, we can see enormous cost savings.

    Seniors clearly want to remain independent for as long as possible, and, with a little bit of assistance, we can help many of them achieve that goal. I am convinced that the CHAI project will become a model for independent living around the nation.