On May 11, GNYHA hosted an all-day symposium, From Vision to Reality: Developing Assisted Living in New York, that highlighted several assisted living program models for serving low- and moderate-income populations. The symposium guided participants through the steps that have been successfully used by not-for-profit providers to develop a strategic plan, analyze the market, choose a viable site, create a development team, design an appropriate environment, consider legal issues, and finance their projects. The points below highlight some of the program's main themes:

• The growing senior population will increasingly need more affordable, home-like settings that provide health, supportive, and personal care services.

• Not-for-profit health care providers possess the ideal clinical and management expertise that is essential to providing quality assisted living as part of their continuum of care.

• Providers are facing very difficult challenges in developing affordable assisted living in the NY metropolitan area because of high land and construction prices, zoning barriers, lack of government funding to provide affordable housing, and disconnected policies concerning the provision of services and housing.

• One major element of a successful project includes assembling a development team that shares an organization's philosophies and complements the organization's strengths.

As a result of the low fill rates of many for-profit assisted living projects, funding sources are looking to the not-for-profit sector for their expertise in caring for the aging population.