The living conditions of elderly Americans.
OBJECTIVE
This article profiles the housing settings of frail elderly individuals, whether their homes are facilitating or impeding their ability to live in the community, and the change in disability and housing status before and after passage of the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act.


METHODS
The analysis relies primarily on statistical analysis of the 1995 national American Housing Survey (AHS), with supplementary analysis of the 1978 AHS.


RESULTS
In 1995, roughly 14% of elderly individuals had a "housing-related disability," 49% had at least one dwelling modification, and 23% had an unmet need for modifications. Because half those with dwelling modification also reported unmet need, the match between disabling condition and modification, not the presence of modifications, is key. Multivariate results indicate that although unmet need is greater among the poor, lack of modifications is not. Prevalence of modifications nearly doubled between 1978 and 1995. Overall unmet need declined, but some needs were less likely to be met in 1995 than 1978.


CONCLUSIONS
The analysis highlights the importance of information about housing for understanding the care and service needs of elderly individuals and provides a compelling argument for a minimum dataset on their housing and neighborhood environments.
Newman
Sandra
S
Johns Hopkins University Institute for Policy Studies, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA. sjn@jhu.edu
D000368:Aged; D001107:Architectural Accessibility; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D016330:Frail Elderly; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D018577:Homebound Persons / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016852:Housing for the Elderly / Q000592:standards* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014481:United States