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What is the Housing Bureau for Seniors?

What is the Housing Bureau for Seniors and what does it do?
Since 1983, the Housing Bureau for Seniors has been a wealth of knowledge and experience and a valuable resource for seniors and their families as they navigate through life’s transitions. We provide a variety of programs and services to meet the needs of seniors, create community awareness of aging and senior housing related issues and link seniors and caregivers to needed community services.

 
Elderly Eviction Prevention
Preventing homelessness among seniors who live in rental properties is the main goal of the Elderly Eviction Prevention program. Physical frailties, memory disorders, and mental illnesses contribute to elderly renters forgetting to pay their bills, their ability to maintain clean and sanitary apartments and other difficulties that violate a lease agreement. Suddenly eviction is imminent. We can help by providing a comprehensive assessment of a client’s needs:

  • Identify and resolving problems with senior tenants before eviction is threatened or providing relocation to appropriate housing, if needed;
  • Maintain positive relationships with area landlords and property managers so they are sensitive to senior housing issues; and
  • Work with our network of public and private agencies to find solutions to the problems senior tenants face in trying to manage their living spaces.

For more information, contact Harriet Bakalar at (734) 998-9355.
Foreclosure Prevention
In cooperation with the City of Ann Arbor, Washtenaw County and others, we work closely with the Washtenaw County Treasurer to help seniors avoid losing their homes to foreclosure.
In partnership with AARP, we host free tax assistance programs throughout the tax season. Our tax preparation volunteers prepare federal and state income taxes, as well as screen participants for eligibility for tax credits, property tax deferments and property tax hardship applications. All seniors are eligible to participate in this program.
For more information, contact Janet M. Hunko, L.L.M.S.W., (734) 998-9431.
 

HomeShare Program
HomeShare is an alternative way of meeting housing needs. It offers numerous benefits to renters and homeowners alike. People share housing for different reasons, including: companionship, personal safety, help with chores, or to offset the rising cost of rents, taxes, utilities, and maintenance, live in a house that is now too large since their children have left home, or they may be one-parent families, single elderly persons or elderly couples. In all these situations, the homeowner may find it difficult to cope with the responsibilities of maintaining a household.
Renters may be graduate students, newly divorced persons, professionals recently moved to the area, or anyone in need of low cost housing who seeks the comforts of a home living environment and enjoys living with others.
Simply put, HomeSharing is an arrangement where two or more unrelated people (one individual must be 55 years of age or older) share a dwelling, each having private space along with shared common areas. A shared arrangement might involve a homeowner and a renter, or two or more people renting a house or apartment together. HomeSharers may arrange a regular rental agreement or exchange services for part or all of the rent. No two HomeSharing situations are alike; each is tailored to the needs and desires of the people involved.
The HomeShare Coordinator, along with trained volunteers, explores potential matches with appropriate home seekers through a careful screening process that includes visits to the homeowner’s home, personal interviews and individual introductions, and follow-up contacts to ensure a successful experience for both home providers and home seekers.
For more information, contact Ryan Cowmeadow at (734) 998-9345.
 
Housing Counseling Program
The Housing Counseling Program helps older adults in the area consider their housing and health care choices when they are thinking about staying in their own home or moving into new living arrangement. We work with you and your family to evaluate housing and health care alternatives that take into consideration such factors as your personal values, your need for care, safety, privacy, social connections and transportation, as well as affordability.
We offer resources and options for staying in your home as well as living and care options that are available in senior housing communities. Counseling and information is offered on:

  • maximizing home options for your living (home modification, home repair and weatherization, downsizing resources, emergency response systems, fall risk prevention and home safety, understanding the difference: in-home care and skilled home health care services, understanding reverse mortgage, respite care for day time needs and overnight stay)
  • senior independent living communities (low-cost senior housing, retirement residences)
  • assisted living care (adult foster care, homes for the aged, memory care communities)
  • nursing homes (all age communities, active living lifestyles for 55+, cooperative housing, manufactured homes, market rate and subsidized apartment complexes, public housing and Section 8 Voucher Program, tips for long distance caregiving)

For more information or to schedule an appointment, contact Justine Bykowski, M.A. at (734) 998-9346.

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