November 17, 2020

The Living In Place Institute, the educational organization behind the Certified Living in Place Professional and Living In Place Associate programs, announces the release of the Home & Accessibility Trade Specialist (HATS) program.

HATS is an education program for trades professionals to make all homes safe, healthy and comfortable by providing the specific training necessary to compete in today’s world of focusing on homes for all ages and needs.

Trades professionals represent over 6 million workers in the U.S. alone who are responsible for building homes and bringing home designs to life.

“I started my 50+ years building career as a tradesperson and learned the code of ‘Safety-First’ for workers,” said Erik Listou, one of two co-founders of the Living In Place Institute. “Now, for the first time, we can learn together how to expand that Safety-First mantra into making all homes safe and healthy for our clients and customers, of all needs and ages. We recognized most trade professionals do not have a credential to demonstrate their professionalism and industry involvement to their clients and HATS meets that need.”

The HATS program is easy for all trade professionals to attend. The class is a series of on-demand, pre-recorded sessions that cover a wide range of topics, each followed by a brief quiz. Topics include:

• Why All Homes Need to be Safe – Healthy – Comfortable
• Interprofessional Teams
• Medical and Cognitive Issues and Solutions (2 parts)
• Home & Wellness Solutions (3 parts)
• How to Sell Living In Place

HATS trade professional candidates include:

• Electricians
• Plumbers
• Painters
• Carpenters & Deck Builders
• Flooring, Tiling & Surface Fabricators
• Appliance Technicians
• Concrete Contractors
• Drywallers
• Handypersons
• HVAC Mechanics
• Professional Organizers
• System Integration Installers

“There is already interest from product vendors who want to be part of this new education program that helps reinforce the trades’ role in the dynamic shift from aging in place to Living In Place,” said Louie Delaware, co-founder. “And they also see HATS as an opportunity to take their product/service messages to a wider audience.”

Registration opens on Nov. 23 with a Black Friday Week Special reduced pricing from $299 to $149 through November 30, and for the remainder of 2020 the pricing is $199.  Like other education programs from the Living In Place Institute, there is a money-back guarantee for HATS.

“After experiencing not enough qualified tradespersons throughout my career, we are excited and honored to be a part of not only creating this education, but also raising the stature and respect of the trades heroes of the building industry,” said Listou.

For more information on HATS program and to register, go to https://livinginplace.institute/HATSClasses.