Over the past several years, devastating fires in public housing developments across the country have made headlines for displacing and injuring residents and destroying units.

Just last month, a fire in the Fort Lincoln Senior Citizen’s Village Apartments, owned by the District of Columbia Housing Authority, threatened the lives and homes of residents with limited mobility, sending five people to the hospital and 29 households to nearby hotels.

As evidenced by this and other reports, much of the nation’s public housing stock is in poor condition, creating health hazards that put older adults at serious risk. Broken boilers, mold and mildew, rodent infestations, and fires—to name a few—have damaging effects on residents of all ages, including vulnerable seniors.

To address their housing problems, public housing authorities are using a variety of financial tools to refurbish, replace, and rebuild crumbling properties. But in many cases, the available funds are inadequate. And although redevelopment promises improved living conditions, our research on previous public housing transformation efforts documents serious risks for older and frail residents.

Of particular concern, a recent US Department of Housing and Urban Development study looking at housing authorities that have financed redevelopment efforts through the Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD) found that residents in these communities were disproportionately likely to rate their health as poor. This finding suggests that housing authorities will need to provide extra support to frail and elderly residents living in properties targeted for redevelopment.

Read the full article about aging public housing by Mica O'Brien and Susan J. Popkin at Urban Institute.