ACL awards $2.8 million through the Elder Justice Innovation Grants program to support emergency and transitional shelters for older adults

September 20, 2024

ACL is awarding grants totaling more than $2.8 million in the first year to the following to increase the availability emergency and transitional housing and supportive services for older adults, including those with disabilities, who experience abuse, neglect and/or exploitation.

The six new grantees are:

• County of Stanislaus Community Services Agency, Adult Protective Services (CA)
• Benjamin Rose Institute on Aging and Oklahoma Adult Protective Services
• The Virginia Center on Aging, Virginia Commonwealth University
• Center for the Prevention of Elder Abuse and Neglect at Hebrew SeniorLife (NY)
• Allegheny County Department of Human Services (PA)
• Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services (WI)

The two-year grants will support the development of innovative and cost-effective approaches for providing emergency shelter and supportive services to meet the unique needs of older adults, as well as practical strategies for implementing those approaches. The goal is to develop models that can be replicated in communities across the country.

Each of the grantees has a demonstrated capacity to provide comprehensive, personalized supports and resources to address the complex issues and challenges that often accompany the maltreatment experience, which can interfere with long-term housing stability for older adults.

About Elder Shelters

When an older adult experiences maltreatment severe enough to risk their safety, there can be an immediate need to relocate. However, it is often challenging to find emergency and transitional housing options that meet their unique needs. For example, while elder abuse can include intimate partner violence, it also includes family violence, as well as abuse, neglect and/or exploitation committed by a third party, which is outside of the eligibility requirements of most domestic violence shelters. Even if eligibility requirements are met, domestic violence shelters are often not equipped to provide the continuum of medical, housing, and social service care most needed by older adults. In addition, cases involving older adults often take longer to stabilize, often well beyond this time frame that can be covered by domestic violence shelters.

Elder shelters have arisen as a supported housing option to address these gaps. They provide supportive emergency and transitional housing options, along with comprehensive, personalized supports and resources to address the complex issues and challenges that often accompany the maltreatment experience. These services include, but are not limited to, stable and permanent housing solutions, legal services, transportation, life skills, education, counseling, and services to address trauma.

Elder Justice Innovation Grants support the continued development of evidence-based practices on elder abuse intervention and response.

For more information about the grants referenced in this announcement, please see ACL's Notice of Funding Opportunity: HHS-2024-ACL-AOA-EJIG-0011, "FY2024 Elder Justice Innovation Grants - Option 1," posted June 18, 2024.