A new affordable housing option for seniors is coming to Centre County. How to apply

An affordable housing program for older adults in Centre County that has been delayed due to the pandemic, supply chain and cost issues is now seeking applicants.

The Elder Cottage Housing Opportunity (ECHO) program builds a small, manufactured cottage temporarily placed on the side or backyard of a host family who can provide necessary assistance. ECHO serves qualified adults 60 years and older who “prefer to age in place, while staying close to loved ones,” according to the county’s website.

The county received grant funding in 2021 to begin the program. During Tuesday’s Centre County Commissioners meeting, Quentin Burchfield, director of Centre County’s office on aging, and Morgan Wasikonis, executive director of Housing Transitions, gave the board an update on the project. They hope to have the cottage ready soon with someone living in it by the end of the summer.

“The idea of it is that the older adult still has the independence of living on their own, but they’re able to live close to family that can help them and care for them,” Wasikonis said. “...When we think about where we have services for older adults, they tend to be in more urban areas. That’s where the nursing homes and places like that are, and so this is a way for people to live closer to maybe the home area that they’ve lived in most of their lives and close to family as well.”

ECHO is like a subsidized housing situation; the older adult moves into the structure and 30% of their income goes toward the rent. The rest of it is at no cost to the homeowner or the older adult, Morgan Wasikonis, executive director of housing transitions, said. The HOME Foundation will do the setup of the house, and will ensure it’s able to hook up to utilities and prep the site for the property, she said.

The cottage is about half the size of a typical mobile home, about 40 feet long. The floor plan shows a kitchen, living area, one bedroom, an accessible bathroom and a washer and dryer. Occupancy could be for up to two people. There will likely be some zoning and variance requests in the municipalities in which the cottage will be placed, Wasikonis said.

The lot where the cottage would be located needs to be big enough to accommodate the lot with a level area. They can do some work at the site to make it level, Wasikonis said, but they can’t make any permanent changes to the host homes’ property.

Once the person no longer needs it, the cottage can be relocated to another property and serve another aging adult, she said.

The program began in Clearfield County and is funded by the state from the realty transfer tax. Prior to the pandemic, the budget was $80,000, which included $45,000 to manufacture the home. But now the manufacture of the home has doubled to $92,000, Wasikonis said.

“We are anxious to get this moving and fortunately there’s a manufacturer who has already worked with other counties and is able to produce these pretty quickly now,” Wasikonis said.

To qualify, Burchfield said the person has to be either independent or independent with family assistance, and there is an application process.

“We really want to have more than one potential family because … when someone is done using it, it would be great to have somebody else lined up to use the structure,” he said. Any needed repairs or renovations will be done before it goes to the next family.

Wasikonis said in the future, she hopes to explore how this model could help not only aging adults, but adults with special needs who may want to live independently but still have the support of family.

For more information, contact the county’s aging office, 814-355-6716.