Glossary

Navigating the seniors housing maze can be difficult at first. These simple definitions will help you with the terminology you will run into along the way. If you have questions about these terms, have additional senior housing terms you would like to suggest we add, or need additional help, please contact a Pathway community near you.

To see a term’s definition, click the title.

Elderly Housing

Not to be confused with the statutory term of “Housing for Older Persons,” a class of facilities which are exempt from the familial status provisions of the Fair Housing Amendments Act, elderly housing is a loose term indicating the intended target group for which the sponsor developed the housing. The needs of and concerns for elderly housing programs are often distinguishable from those impacting family housing. Elderly housing programs can be distinguished from within multifamily housing as having a unique position in the long-term care reform efforts concerning Medicare and Medicaid.

ElectroConvulsive Therapy (ECT)

Electric shock therapy used to treat mental illness.

Empathy

To identify with what another person is thinking or feeling.

Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA)

ERISA sets minimum standards for pension plans in private industry. ERISA was enacted in 1974, amended in 1984 by the Retirement Equity Act (REA) and, in 1986, by the Tax Reform Act (TRA). REA provides additional protection for spouses of participants and liberalizes ERISA rules on participation and vesting. The rules are further liberalized by the TRA. ERISA does not require employers to establish a plan, but requires those that do to meet certain standards. The law generally does not set specific amounts to be paid as pension benefits, nor does it address the adequacy of pension benefits.

End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD)

Kidney failure; may need dialysis.

Environmental Restraint

Secured or locked doors, that restrict a person’s movement and prevent exit to ensure safety.

Extremely Low (or Very, very low) Income

Families whose incomes are no higher than 30% of the area median income – the QHWRA Act of 1998 (implemented in April 2000) requires that no less than 40% of new Section 8 assisted unit leases each year are to be targeted to extremely low income families.