Denver Housing Authority's Healthy Living Initiaitve and Senior Resident Survey

Denver Housing Authority provides innovative programming to assist its senior/disabled populations to age in place in a safe and healthy manner.  Services, provided to the aging and disabled populations at more than 20 sites around the City of Denver, include nutrition, health services, transportation, gardening, resident engagement, and service coordination.  To this end, DHA has launched two initiatives that offer housing and health care practitioners and advocates best practice models in the areas of integrating healthy living principles into community design and getting the resident voice into aging in place program consideration. 

DHA’s Senior and Disabled resident survey provides a client/consumer based perspective on the needs and gaps in programs and services designed to enable residents to age in place and live independently for as long as is safe and healthy.  

DHA’s Healthy Living Initiative (HLI), is a place-based strategy launched at DHA’s Mariposa District.   The Mariposa HLI began in 2009, when the Denver Housing Authority established physical, mental, and community health as proxies to understand how community redevelopment actions would change the quality of life for residents. HLI recognizes that the built environment is a determinant of health outcomes, which ultimately influence the quality and length of life for residents. HLI uses a responsive and rigorous approach to address environmental and social determinants of health, which include Healthy Housing, Environmental Stewardship, Sustainable and Safe Transportation, Social Cohesion, Public Infrastructure, and Healthy Economy. The Initiative framework is intended to be a living implementation tool for designers, developers, and practitioners.