Obama Administration's Funding for Assisted Living Senior Housing Poses Challenge in Converting Existing Structures

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SySAdmin
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August 2, 2010
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Obama Administration's Funding for Assisted Living Senior Housing Poses Challenge in Converting Existing Structures

Existing multi-family apartment owners need an efficient and cost-effective way to retrofit them for safe, secure senior living

DENVER, Aug. 2 --
  WHO:     Mark Jarman, president
           Inovonics
            Inovonics is a leader in high-performance wireless sensor
            networks for commercial and life safety applications.
            (http://www.inovonics.com)

            The uncertainty of the housing market combined with the aging
            baby boom generation is prompting developers to plan hundreds of
            new senior housing units across the country. According to the
            American Health Care Association, the number of people aged 65
            and older is supposed to almost double to more than 71 million
            by the year 2030. A key indicator of these rapidly growing
            trends can be seen in an announcement made last week by the U.S.
            Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) (http:///
            portal.hud.gov/portal/page/portal/HUD/press/
            press_releases_media_advisories/2010/HUDNo.10-165) stating
            that it awarded almost $20 million to four states for conversion
            of existing multi-family apartment dwellings into assisted
            living senior care facilities. The monies will allow the elderly
            an opportunity to age in a place in familiar surroundings as
            they become older and require supportive services. However, the
            ability to move quickly while keeping costs down to convert
            these living quarters so that states can take advantage of the
            federal funding poses a challenge. Existing buildings need to
            have life safety devices and call systems installed to ensure
            that seniors can receive help and assistance immediately if
            needed. Traditionally, this required re-wiring of the existing
            structure, which is costly and labor- and time-intensive. The
            grants are awarded on a competitive basis. During the review
            process, HUD assesses several ranking factors including: the
            extent to which the conversion is needed by the persons that the
            project is intended to serve and the capacity of the project
            owner to carry out the conversion in a timely and effective
            manner. How do property owners who wish to take advantage of the
            federal funding overcome the potential challenges in making
  WHAT:     their existing apartment complexes "assisted living-ready?"

            Commercial-grade wireless products provide the best solution for
            retrofitting a call system and life safety capabilities into
            existing facilities without pulling wire and disrupting the
            building's structure. Specifically designed for security and
            life safety applications, wireless sensor network products can
            be quickly and easily installed to provide emergency call and
            life safety capabilities for apartment buildings as well as be
            used in situations where the location of a mobile alarming
            device (duress pendant) can be identified anywhere across a
            building or campus. The result is building owners can retrofit
            their existing apartment complexes quickly at lower cost than
            traditional wired approaches and be assured of proven, reliable
  HOW:      performance for their senior residents.

  CONTACT: Christie Denniston
           Senior Account Executive
           Catapult PR-IR
           303-581-7760, ext. 13
           cdenniston@catapultpr-ir.com

Source: Inovonics
   

CONTACT:  Christie Denniston, Senior Account Executive of Catapult PR-IR,
+1-303-581-7760, ext. 13, cdenniston@catapultpr-ir.com, for Inovonics

Web Site:  http://www.inovonics.com/

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