Subcommittee Announces Creation of Commission

Washington, D.C. - Housing and Community Opportunity Subcommittee Chairman Rick Lazio (R-NY) and Ranking Member Barney Frank (D-MA) today announced the members of the Commission on Affordable Housing and Health Care Facility Needs of Senior Citizens in the 21st Century. The Commission will develop comprehensive aging-in-place strategies that link affordable shelter with compassionate services through public, private, and public-private partnerships in order to assist the growing number of aging Americans.

The bipartisan Commission will consist of 14 members selected by the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the full House and Senate Banking and Appropriations Committees and Chairmen and Ranking Members of the subcommittees with housing jurisdiction. The Commission members named today were chosen for their commitment to building consensus, their expertise, leadership ability, and credibility on housing issues. A list of commission members is attached.

America's elderly population is growing exponentially. Currently, there are more than 33 million Americans age 65 or older and by the year 2020, this number will grow to almost 53 million, or one in every six citizens. This growth will also be accompanied by other fundamental elderly concerns, including the nation's financial ability to assure the availability of affordable, quality housing and related in-home and institutional healthcare facilities to serve elderly populations ranging from the recently retired, healthy elderly to older, frail elderly.

The Commission will seek to develop clear and consistent recommendations to the next Congress and the next President to address the impending senior housing and related healthcare crisis our nation faces. This will be accomplished by initiating a national debate on affordable housing and healthcare needs and how to address those needs through a series of fact-finding hearings. These hearings are designed to identify and analyze methods of promoting a more comprehensive approach to dealing with housing and supporting service issues for the purposes of expanding opportunities for public, private, and public-private partnerships.

###