Supportive Housing for Older Adults with Disabilities: Mapping the Literature on Board and Care Homes in the United States Using the Age-Friendly Communities Framework

Abstract

With the increase in life expectancy in the United States comes an increase in years lived with a disability and poverty. This necessitates age-friendly, affordable housing that is appropriate for older adults with disabilities. Board and care homes provide housing and services for older adults with disabilities. This scoping review maps the literature on board and care homes in the United States following the age-friendly communities framework. A synthesis of articles (n = 10) revealed that board and care homes, while probably affordable, can be unsafe; variable in services provided; are mostly unregulated; and may lack opportunities for socialization.

Keywords:

• Board and care
• residential care
• home and community-based services
• scoping review
• older adults
• disability

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests regarding this work.

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author, DJM, upon reasonable request.

Acknowledgements

Our sincerest gratitude to Dr. Catherine Hawes and Dr. Charles Phillips, who blazed a trail for us through their research and dedication to social justice in residential care.

Notes

1 14.5% of adults aged 65 years and older (7.1 million people) live in poverty, as defined using the Supplemental Poverty Measure at below 100% poverty.

Additional information

Funding

This study was funded through the REDI grant award distributed by the Texas A&M University School of Public Health. The sponsor had no role in the design of the study, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data or in writing the manuscript.