Working closely with federal policymakers and partnering with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, B’nai B’rith is the largest national Jewish sponsor of federally subsidized housing for the elderly in the United States.

B’nai B’rith Director of Aging Policy Rachel Goldberg and Associate Director of the Center for Senior Services Janel Doughten were quoted in an article in the Jewish Exponent, discussing the organization’s goal of providing affordable housing to all seniors in need.

Read an excerpt below:

In recent years, Rachel Goldberg, director of aging policy for B’nai B’rith International, has seen some movement on a federal level and in insurance policies that are “starting to reflect what people want”— which is to stay in their homes, whether an owned residence or a rental.

Medicaid has introduced a state-federal partnership that is allowing states to experiment with different ideas to subsidize long-term senior care services for those who wish to age in place.

Within Medicaid is an initiative called Money Follows the Person, meaning that the dollars follow someone out of an institutional setting to receiving care at home. But one of the problems the initiative has encountered is a lack of sufficient affordable housing.

“For lower-income people, the idea of aging in place only works if there is a suitable home for you to live in,” says Janel Doughten, associate director of the Center for Senior Services at B’nai B’rith International.

The apartments B’nai B’rith provides to low-income seniors in partnership with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development are designed to meet the needs of seniors. A service coordinator works for each apartment building.

“They are specifically there,” Doughten says, “to help residents reach out and obtain services in their home.”