James Hanna, Maryland
Mary Wobel, Surprise, AZ
Claude Cooper, Richmond, VA
Chris Anderson and Ron Javor, California DHCD
Jack Phillips, Ventura County, CA
James Martin, Garden Grove, CA
Dick Thomson, New York State
Russ Bodoff, Center for Aging Services Technologies, Guest Speaker
Robert Wible, NCSBCS

NCSBCS Past President and Maryland Delegate James Hanna welcomed all to the call.

Mr. Hanna thanked Russ Bodoff, Executive Director of the Center for Aging Services Technologies (CAST), for being the guest speaker for this call. Mr. Bodoff noted that he was pleased to participate in the call to share the innovative technologies being developed and promoted to enable the nation’s aging population to live in their homes longer "aging in place. " CAST is a two-year-old consortium of providers of services to the aged including technical companies and research universities.

Mr. Bodoff noted that he was familiar with NCSBCS from his 14 years at the American National Standards Institute and looked forward to this discussion of the possible relevance of those technologies to the building codes and codes enforcement programs.

In his opening remarks, Mr. Bodoff noted that an "Age Wave" is coming in America as the "baby boomer generation" begins to retire. This will stress both our health care system and our housing. Building new facilities to try and accommodate the wave isn’t the answer. The nation must look for alternatives including using technology to help people remain independent in their homes for a longer period of time than is now possible. This is the role of CAST that includes 400 organizations as members. CAST interacts with members of Congress, the White House and will participate in the upcoming White House Conference on Aging. Companies involved include Intel, GE, H.P., Samsung and Panasonic and several major research universities.

The Center is looking at new ideas, concepts and technologies, some of which might impact building codes. These include monitoring systems and sensor devices in homes to give information on how well a person is doing. Some technologies follow those already in place in SMART houses (NAHB) while others have come here from Europe and Asia.

The Aging in Place movement looks particularly at people who are 70-80 and above. We are asking how we can tie broadband access and cable and wireless technologies to serve our elderly. One problem we face in this regard is that unlike some Asian nations (e.g. S. Korea) only 38% of our homes currently have broadband connections. In some Asian and European nations, 75-78% of their homes have broadband.

Other examples we are studying are the "Aware Home" at Georgia Tech and work being done at the University of Rochester on a "Smart Apartment."

The funding of such innovations is very limited. Grants thus far just aren’t available to address these issues here. Other countries, notably the Netherlands, are building "smart complexes" to test out new technologies.

Here in the U.S. one of the most interesting assisted living projects using technology is found in Portland, Oregon. People are starting to outgrow senior communities like the Del Webbs in Las Vegas. The result has been a lack of skilled facilities for people needing them.

As in most cases, it is far less expensive to put such technologies in when you are building a new structure than when trying to retrofit or rehab an older building.

Retrofitting, however, will become more and more an issue as more individuals try and stay in their homes longer and technologies make that a more practical approach.

Question: Jim Hanna thanked Mr. Bodoff for the overview on aging in place and innovative technologies and opened the session to questions from building officials. He began this portion of the meeting with a question of his own -- Is there anything that we should be doing now regarding wiring?

Answer: Yes, support efforts to bring broadband into housing and for buildings to have the capacity to support central servers that will control sensor and other type devices. Currently Honeywell, GE Security, ADT and many other smaller companies are looking into these technologies. We need to have our homes built so we can optimize technologies and the power demands of such systems shouldn’t be overwhelming.

Question: Are there any observations about problems in retrofitting homes?

Answer: We will learn as we go along. For example, trails in Las Vegas have shown that homes with traditional stucco applied over wire are creating problems with wireless signals within the home. As problems are identified, solutions can be developed.

Question: Claude Cooper noted that this aging in place issue and application of innovative technologies to enable our elderly population to remain in their homes longer than was previously the case also can create problems. For example, in Richmond elderly are remaining in apartment buildings longer than they can take care of themselves independently creating an "involuntary change of use." This is where building owners end up having to provide other services to their tenants more like an assisted care facility that has a whole different range of building and fire code requirements. Issues being faced include a growing number of fires in apartments from stove burners and ovens not being turned off to evacuation and egress problems.

In particular, HUD facilities in older cities are seeing this problem. These facilities have very few staff compared to the number of elderly they house.

Answer: Yes, these are issues that must be addressed both by the technology available and by state and local governments working with the private sector.

Comment: Dick Thomson, New York State, noted that this is a major problem in upstate New York where there are far too few assisted care facilities to accommodate demand.  Some code issue options involve retrofitting homes as people age and stay in place.  At present, only one battery-operated smoke detector is required in older homes. If these homes are renovated, they will have to have more detectors, including hard-wired units. Also should look at heat detectors in kitchens for seniors and for senior housing.  Monitoring people on each floor will be useful. Will need to include basements.

Mr. Hanna thanked Mr. Bodoff for his participation.

Mr. Hanna introduced the second accessibility topic, "visitability" - demands being made that existing and new housing be either renovated or constructed to readily accommodate people with disabilities and the aging population who visit those homes. This includes accessible paths of travel up to and within the home, bathrooms, and other features. Several examples of this issue were reviewed.

Those on the call discussed "visitability" as a part of the universal design movement. It was noted that this issue should be accommodated outside of the building codes. It is a social issue and not one involving proving for minimum life safety.

Mr. Wible asked if the topics for this month’s call had proved useful to everyone.

It was agreed that "visitability" and "aging in place" were very informative and should continue to be monitored by NCSBCS and reported on periodically to the members of both NCSBCS and AMCBO.

Prior to concluding the call, Jim Martin shared the agenda for the upcoming March 16 meeting of the California Building Standards Commission. He said it was anticipated that at that meeting the Commission would act favorably on the recommendation framed by a subcommittee earlier in March that the State of California adopt the International Building Code as the basis of an updated statewide building code for California. (NOTE: On March 16^th the Commission voted 8-2 to do so.)

There being no further items on the agenda for this call, James Hanna adjourned the call at 1:15 p.m. The next NCSBCS/AMCBO Public Sector Members Important Issues Call is scheduled for April 19 on the topic innovative technologies potential impact on codes administration and enforcement.