The Green House Project, backed by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and by a nonprofit, NCB Capital Impact, provides a range of financing, design, operational and training services. The project has spent the past 10 years developing and refining The Green House model for assisted senior living. There are now nearly 150 Green House projects operating in 22 states.
Each room has separate heating and cooling controls. And each room also has the resident's own locked medication station, allowing a licensed caregiver to dispense needed medications in the privacy of a person's own room.
Built like a home for a large family, Green Houses include a shared kitchen for communal use. Nearly all of the care is provided by certified nursing assistants who receive special training to allow them to perform nearly all of the staffing and management tasks needed inside a Green House.
To date, Green Houses have been built largely by the substantial nonprofit component of the senior housing industry. Projects may be located on the campuses of continuing care retirement communities for residents who don't want to be relocated to a traditional nursing home environment.
Special-use houses have also been built, such as for military veterans with disabilities, Alzheimer's patients and other groups. In another case, 10 individual Green Houses were built on top of one another in a mid-rise building.
While the houses are often more expensive to build per unit than larger nursing homes, staffing changes can make them economically competitive. Only about 20 percent of Green House living units are occupied by people who pay market-rate prices. Most occupants are on Medicaid or other assistance programs according to David Farrell, project director.
Surveys have found that people are willing to pay more for Green House living units than for other types of assisted living.
