Home Safety Tips for Older Adults

Secure rugs and cords. Throw rugs are a hazard, especially for people on walkers, as the front legs may clear the rug but the back legs get caught up. Electrical cords are another danger, he says.

Add sensor-activated lights. With age come increased chances of cataracts and increased problems seeing well under low light levels. Oden recommends installing plug-in sensor lights.

Take it slow. Keep in mind that what might look to you like minor steps to age-proof a home may strike your parents “as something bigger, like losing independence,” Oden says. “It could be very upsetting and a major obstacle for change. Have empathy, understanding and compassion.”

Professionals can help

Those who aim for more extensive and expensive remodeling can seek out a contractor designated by the National Association of Home Builders as a certified aging-in-place specialist (CAPS). 

The industry group created the CAPS program to give homeowners some assurance that they are hiring a builder with knowledge about the challenges older clients can face. The aim is to reduce the risk that someone inexperienced with the needs of an older adult could create a harmful situation — grab bars improperly installed, for example.

More than 10,000 people have been certified as CAPS, and training is offered online and at dozens of locations around the country. But Dan Bawden, who helped found the program and trains peers for the certification, says that number represents a tiny fraction of the country’s contractors and remodelers.

“Having homes that are unfriendly to seniors as they get older is nothing new,” says Bawden, owner and president of Legal Eagle Contractors, a custom building and remodeling firm based in Bellaire, Texas. “In really older houses, doors are almost always too skinny.”

Modification costs range from basics, such as $650 for adding grab bars, to $3,500 to widen a doorway. To truly modify a 2,000-square-foot house not built for accessibility can be a $150,000 to $180,000 project if it includes installing additional lighting, building ramps to get inside from outdoors, widening doorways, remodeling floors without bumps and threshold changes, and redoing at least one bathroom and the kitchen, Bawden says.

How to get financial assistance for changes

Local or state programs can provide financial assistance for retrofits such as grab bars, Bawden says. In some cases, funds may be available for a change a doctor prescribes as medically necessary.

As a general rule, traditional Medicare doesn’t cover most retrofits. But some types of Medicare Advantage plans may provide coverage. Medicare allows these plans to pay for shower grips and other safety devices designed to prevent falls and for accessibility improvements to a member’s home, such as permanent ramps or wider hallways and doors to accommodate wheelchairs in certain circumstances.

Low-interest loans for home improvements are options. If your family’s income is low, you live in a rural area and the home being modified belongs to someone age 62 or older, the renovations may qualify for the federal Section 504 single family home repair program from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Your state or local government also might have a loan or grant program to help seniors stay in their homes. Habitat for Humanity offers an Aging in Place program for low-income families. The national program targets exterior repairs, but some affiliates also will help with accessibility.

Also check with social service agencies that lend equipment such as wheelchairs or ramps.

Editor's note: This article, originally published Nov. 28, 2019, has been updated with more recent information on the 65-plus population, fall risks, the CAPS program and home-modification costs.

Sharon Jayson is a contributing writer who covers aging, family, health care and retirement. She previously worked for USA Today and the Austin American-Statesman, and she also has written for Kaiser Health News, Time magazine and The Washington Post.