42 U.S.C. § 3032k — Community innovations for aging in place

(a) Definitions
(1) “Eligible entity” means a nonprofit health or social-service organization, a community nonprofit, an area agency on aging^* or another local government agency, a tribal organization^*, or another entity that the Assistant Secretary^* finds suitable for a project^* under this part and that has experience providing or managing group and individual health and social services for older people. It does not include an entity that provides housing through the congregate housing services program under section 8011 of this title or the multifamily service coordinator program under section 1701q(g) of title 12.
(2) “Naturally Occurring Retirement Community” means a community with many older people. It may be a residential building, housing complex, single-family-residence area (including a rural area), or neighborhood with housing for people of different ages. Either 40 percent of household heads must be older people, or local factors taken together must create a large enough older population for an organization to provide health and social services efficiently. The community may not be an institutional-care or assisted-living setting. This section does not define “older individuals,” “critical mass,” “age-integrated housing,” or “local factors.”
(b) Grants
(1) The Assistant Secretary^* must competitively award grants to eligible entities to develop and operate model aging-in-place projects. The projects must promote older people’s ability to age in place, including people living in Naturally Occurring Retirement Communities, so that they can remain independent. Each grant recipient must identify innovative ways to provide, and connect older people with, programs and services that deliver broad, coordinated health and social services, preserve quality of life, and support aging in place.
(2) Each grant must last 3 years.
(c) Applications
(1) An entity seeking a grant under subsection (b) must apply to the Assistant Secretary at the time, in the manner, and with the information the Assistant Secretary requires.
(2) The application must include—
(A) a detailed account of the entity’s experience serving older people in settings where people of different ages live;
(B) the boundaries of the connected service area and a description of the project area where the older people live or carry out activities that support their well-being;
(C) a needs assessment identifying— (i) the community health and social services available in the project area when the assessment is made; (ii) those services’ strengths and gaps; (iii) the needs of older people living there; and (iv) services not being delivered that would promote aging in place and improve those people’s well-being;
(D) a plan to develop and put into operation an innovative model for coordinating and delivering services in the project area;
(E) how that plan will improve the existing services identified under subparagraph (C)(i) and support this section’s goal;
(F) proposed actions to avoid duplicating services funded under another provision of this chapter, and how the entity will cooperate and coordinate planning and services, including through formal agreements, with agencies and organizations providing publicly supported services to older people in the area, including the State agency^* and area agencies on aging whose planning and service areas include it;
(G) an assurance that the entity will seek cooperative relationships with interested local entities, including private service agencies and businesses, housing entities, community-development organizations, philanthropic organizations, foundations, and other non-Federal entities;
(H) its procedure for referring residents who may need long-term-care services, including coordination with local agencies, area agencies on aging, and Aging and Disability^* Resource Centers that act as single entry points for public services;
(I) how older people will have opportunities to participate in governing, overseeing, and operating the project;
(J) an assurance that it will submit evaluations and reports the Assistant Secretary requires; and
(K) a long-term sustainability plan.
(d) Use of funds
(1) A grant recipient must use the grant funds to—
(A) ensure that older people in the project area can access community-based health and social services, including (i) case management, case assistance, and social work; (ii) health-care management and assistance, including disease prevention and health-promotion services; (iii) education, social, and recreational activities; and (iv) volunteer opportunities for project participants;
(B) reach out to older people in the project area; and
(C) develop and put into operation innovative, broad, cost-effective ways to deliver and coordinate community-based health and social services for eligible older people, including the volunteer opportunities in subparagraph (A)(iv) and possibly mental-health services.
(2) A recipient must coordinate its project with organizations providing services funded under subchapter III, to support those services for eligible older people served by the project or make delivery of those services easier.
(3) When practical, the entity must serve a low-income community and operate or place the project and its services in or near a place where many older people have aged in place and lived, such as a Naturally Occurring Retirement Community.
(4) Grant funds must add to, and not replace, Federal, State^*, or other funds otherwise available to the entity for health and social services for eligible older people.
(e) Competitive grants for technical assistance
(1) The Assistant Secretary must either provide, or competitively award to an eligible nonprofit organization a grant to provide, technical assistance to subsection (b) grant recipients and perform other duties the Assistant Secretary assigns.
(2) An eligible organization must be a nonprofit, including a partnership of nonprofits, with experience and expertise assisting different entities that serve older people and evaluating and reporting on programs, and with demonstrated knowledge and expertise in community-based health and social services.
(3) The organization must apply at the time, in the manner, and with the information the Assistant Secretary requires. The application must include an assurance that the organization will submit required evaluations and reports.
(f) Report
Each year the Assistant Secretary must send Congress a report containing (1) the findings from evaluations of the model projects; (2) recommended best practices^* for health and social-service projects for older people aging in place; and (3) legislative or administrative recommendations the Assistant Secretary considers appropriate.