LeadingAge, Enterprise Community Partners and Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future Establish Learning Collaborative

WASHINGTON, Oct. 23, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- LeadingAge and Enterprise Community Partners, Inc. (Enterprise) are launching a national initiative to build strategies that improve quality of life for senior residents while producing cost savings to the health and long-term care systems. The Learning Collaborative will engage teams of senior housing organizations and service providers to develop and refine housing and healthcare models over a two-year period. Stewards of Affordable Housing for the Future (SAHF) is also participating in the Learning Collaborative, providing strategic policy support.

"Our intent for this Learning Collaborative is to move the industry beyond 'boutique' programs to develop replicable and financeable solutions that address the needs of varied senior populations, are comprehensive, and are integrated with larger community initiatives," says Alisha Sanders, director of LeadingAge's Center for Housing Plus Services.

Through the Learning Collaborative, teams will explore components of housing with services strategies such as partnership development, operations, financing mechanisms, outcome measurement, data collection systems and processes, and policy and regulatory changes.  The Learning Collaborative model highlights peer-to-peer education, harnessing the vast expertise among participants.

"At a time when our senior population is growing more rapidly than ever before, and public resources for affordable housing and services are shrinking, it is vital that we take the necessary steps to support innovation, identify successes, and encourage the adoption of these emerging successful models," adds Terri Ludwig, president and CEO, Enterprise.

Participants in the Learning Collaborative pilot are:

• Associated Catholic Charities (Md.)
• Cedar Sinai Park (Ore.)
• Cathedral Square Corporation (Vt.)
• Evangelical Lutheran Good Samaritan Society (S.D.)
• Housing Authority of Milwaukee (Wis.)
• Mercy Housing (Calif.)
• National Church Residences (Ohio)
• NewCourtland (Pa.)
• Peter Sanborn Place (Mass.)
• Presbyterian Senior Living (Pa.)
• Presbyterian Villages of Michigan
• Selfhelp Community Services (N.Y.)

"Serving the most vulnerable and low-income populations is one of our greatest responsibilities," says Larry Minnix, president and CEO of LeadingAge. "This Learning Collaborative will provide an opportunity for us to identify the essential elements and practices of effective housing plus services models so we can serve these populations to the best of our ability."

The first convening of Learning Collaborative members takes place during this week's LeadingAge Annual Meeting in Denver, Colo. Throughout the duration of the two-year pilot, lessons learned and tools developed will be shared with the senior affordable housing and health and aging services fields at large.

"The Learning Collaborative's findings will also inform public policy," notes Bill Kelly, president, SAHF. "Their supporting and measuring innovations could result in housing-healthcare models that provide more effective use of healthcare dollars."

The Learning Collaborative builds on LeadingAge's and Enterprise's successful 2010 National Summit on Affordable Housing and Services in Washington, D.C., and draws on participating teams' work in diverse housing-healthcare programs.

For more information on the collaborative, visit www.enterprisecommunity.org/learningcollaborative or www.leadingage.org/learningcollaborative.aspx.

About LeadingAge

To expand the world of possibilities for aging, LeadingAge members and affiliates touch the lives of 4 million individuals, families, employees and volunteers every day. The LeadingAge community (www.LeadingAge.org) includes 6,000 not-for-profit organizations in the United States, 39 state partners, hundreds of businesses, research partners, consumer organizations, foundations and a broad global network of aging services organizations that reach over 30 countries.  The work of LeadingAge is focused on advocacy, education, and applied research. We promote home health, hospice, community-based services, senior housing, assisted living residences, continuing care communities, nursing homes as well as technology solutions and person-centered practices that support the overall health and wellbeing of seniors, children, and those with special needs.

About Enterprise

Enterprise is a leading provider of the development capital and expertise it takes to create decent, affordable homes and rebuild communities. For 30 years, Enterprise has introduced neighborhood solutions through public-private partnerships with financial institutions, governments, community organizations and others that share our vision. Enterprise has raised and invested more than $11.5 billion in equity, grants and loans to help build or preserve nearly 300,000 affordable rental and for-sale homes to create vital communities. Enterprise has invested $2.2 billion toward the creation of more than 37,000 affordable homes for seniors. Visit www.EnterpriseCommunity.org and www.EnterpriseCommunity.com to learn more about Enterprise's efforts to build communities and opportunity.

About SAHF

Launched in 2003, SAHF has 12 sophisticated nonprofit members who acquire, preserve and are committed to long-term, sustainable ownership and continued affordability of multifamily rental properties for low-income families, seniors and disabled individuals. Together, SAHF members own and operate housing in 49 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands—providing homes to approximately 100,000 low-income households across the country. For more information about SAHF, visit www.sahfnet.org.

SOURCE Enterprise Community Partners