The frequent absence of social services in programmatic housing for the aged must be dealt with. Indeed, recommendations bearing on this issue will probably emerge from the 1981 White House Conference on Aging. Budgetary constraints and manpower shortages preclude having this need met by graduates from degree programs; nor would this be most efficacious. An alternative is to train existing personnel. A NIMH-funded train ing program, now 5 years old, has trained over 150 people in South Bend, Indiana, and Albuquerque, New Mexico. Many were personnel from housing—those in tenant services, supervision, and building management. In addition to general classroom in struction on aging, these workers received individualized supervision on housing issues. Some trainees, for example, were en couraged to develop peer support programs in housing sites. A multifaceted evaluation procedure indicated marked improvement in many areas (e.g., the counseling skills of listening, genuineness, problem identification, and definition of intervention goals.) Also, self-perceived improvements were found in confidence, problem solving, advocacy, helping skills, and other areas.