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home preservation

CAPABLE Program

Helping seniors stay in the homes they love

Many seniors want to live in their homes for as long as possible.

Keeping up with home improvements and maintaining a safe living environment can be challenging.

CAPABLE provides modest investments and short-term interventions to help older adults remain in their homes longer, improve health outcomes, and decrease medical costs.

See Program Details

Is CAPABLE right for you?

To qualify for the CAPABLE program, partners must be:

60+ years old

We partner with seniors aged 60 and older for the CAPABLE program.​

Limited in home care

To qualify for CAPABLe, homeowners must have difficulty performing at least one daily living activity (i.e. bathing) or two instrumental activities (i.e. cooking).​

Living at or below 80% of the area median income

We partner with seniors who have low- to moderate incomes and who have repair needs in their current home.

Become a CAPABLE partner

Do you have questions or would you like to inquire about participating in the CAPABLE program?

Email:
CAPABLE@vnacolorado.org

Phone:
(303) 698-6302

See Program Details

About CAPABLE

Habitat Metro Denver and the Colorado Visiting Nurse Association (CVNA) are the partners behind CAPABLE, an aging-in-place program that stands for Community Aging in Place – Advancing Better Living for Elders.

By working together, Habitat and CVNA provide a powerful combination of medical consultation and home repairs to improve comfort and mobility for low-income homeowners.

CAPABLE’s home-based approach includes:

  • Ten, 60- to 90-minute home visits with an occupational therapist and a registered nurse
  • Home modifications by the Habitat Metro Denver construction team

All home improvements are customized to the homeowner, including the installation of safety bars, improved lighting, floor repairs, and any other custom repairs needed.

Read Hattie's CAPABLE Story
Read Fernita's CAPABLE Story

The Impact

The CAPABLE program was founded by Sarah L. Szanton, PhD at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing in Baltimore in 2017. Research on early participants demonstrates the following impacts*:

  • 79% of participants improved their self-care over the course of five months
  • Participants experienced a decrease in depressive symptoms
  • CAPABLE cut inpatient costs by 34% compared to a comparison group

Locally, Habitat and CVNA have already partnered with more than 100 seniors, with plans to partner with 60 more in the next year. In Colorado’s first year the program cut inpatient costs by 34%, and is estimated to save insurance costs and average of $22,000 per client over a two-year period by preventing one or more hospitalizations or emergency room visits.

Additionally, of the first 23 clients to finish the program, the following improvements were reported:

  • 77% saw an improvement in activities of daily living (ADLs)
  • 57% saw an improvement over depression
  • 53% saw an improvement over pain
  • 48% saw an improvement over fall risk

*Journal of the American Geriatrics Society
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