SACRAMENTO, Calif. — California's population is aging. In the next decade, state officials estimate one out of every five Californians will be at least 65 years old.
That brings concerns about issues like housing, healthcare and social isolation.
There is a statewide plan to address the concerns and a new report from an independent oversight group says it’s going well.
Sheri Williams is in her mid-60s and lives in an apartment community specifically for low-income seniors.
“I'm very fortunate, very happy to be in that particular senior community,” Williams said.
It’s called Lavender Courtyard, by Mutual Housing California. Williams moved into the Midtown Sacramento development when it opened in mid-2022. Before that, however, Williams said she had been experiencing homelessness.
“Every one of us have different circumstances, different reasons as to why we personally end up where we are,” Williams said. “Some were unhoused because of the pandemic, you know, the rising cost of being able to afford a place to live. Most seniors don't make enough money, and if not for these programs, how could one live? It's just really unfortunate.”
For more than a year, Williams said she lived in her vehicle and then moved into the Meadowview Navigation Center Women’s Shelter before getting an apartment at Lavender Courtyard.
“The population of seniors being homeless now, it just amazes me,” Williams said. “It's hard living on a fixed income.”
Lavender Courtyard was Mutual Housing California’s first senior-specific community.
Another one, the Wong Center at F and 7th streets, near the Sacramento Railyards is set to open later this year. The 150-unit development is still under construction. It is for people 55 and older. There is now a waitlist, but Mutual Housing California’s Director of Community Development Susan Voskuil-Starcevich encourages people to apply and get on the list.
“If you're somebody who's looking for affordable housing or you know somebody or you work for an organization that helps with that, please do try to... get on the waitlist,” she said.
In addition to the Wong Center and Lavender Courtyard, Voskuil-Starcevich said Mutual Housing California has two more affordable senior communities in the pipeline.
“There's a lot of housing problems, but I think our seniors, in particular, need an affordable place to live,” Voskuil-Starcevich said. “The fact that the option is homelessness or be moved out of a home you've lived in for a long time and being alone and scared… those kinds of stories, they really get me.”
Demand for senior-specific housing will only grow. The California Department of Aging says that between 2010 and 2060, the population of people 60 and older will increase 166% statewide.
The growth is even more staggering when you look specifically at people 85 and older. Thirty-six of California’s 58 counties anticipate their 85+ population to at least triple by 2060. Those counties include Sacramento, San Joaquin, Placer, Yolo, Yuba, Sutter, El Dorado, Calaveras, Stanislaus, and Solano.
Over at the UC Davis Healthy Aging Clinic in East Sacramento, Dr. Rebecca Boxer’s mind is on senior healthcare.
“We're a multidisciplinary clinic, which includes geriatric specialists, cognitive neurologists, neuropsychologists, geri-psychiatry, and then a lot of ancillary services,” Boxer said. “The Healthy Aging Clinic is a major sort of shining star of the Healthy Aging Initiative at UC Davis.”
She is a geriatrician, a doctor who specializes in treating older adults. It’s a field that needs more recruits.
“It's a growing shortage. It's a huge problem,” Boxer said. “We're really running down on people. A lot of the geriatricians around the country are retiring.”
ABC10 asked her which challenges the state is facing as the population ages.
“It's going to be tough… Affordable housing for older adults. There's going to be a great need for caregiving for those older adults and also for the older adults, themselves caring for their partners,” Dr. Boxer said. “There's a number of issues that start to all come together with older adults as they age. It has to do with multiple chronic conditions, difficulties that can surround psychosocial issues and the other big one I would add is medications.”
Boxer is concerned about not just physical health but also people’s emotional and mental well-being.
“We're going to have to really think about: how do we help older adults who are becoming socially isolated and lonely?” she said. “Loneliness is very much associated with bad outcomes for older adults, and it's incredibly common.”
That’s something Sheri Williams knows firsthand.
“I've lost my husband, my parents,” Williams told ABC10. “It gets lonely, you know, it gets really lonely.”
She said social programs offered at Lavender Courtyard help, so she can experience a sense of community with her neighbors.
“I think it's very important to be able to build, you know, good sound friendships so that you can pretty much look out for one another,” Williams said.
Increasingly, public and private planners alike are turning to aging-friendly communities.
“Communities that can sort of make it easy and safe to grow old,” Boxer said.
ABC10 recently reported on the early stages of a plan for a multi-generational community of some 8,000 homes just southeast of Folsom. It’s called the Community for Health and Independence, in partnership with UC Davis and AKT Investments.
"The vision here is a community for health and independence,” AKT Investments spokesperson Bill Romanelli told ABC10. “It came about from identifying a need expressed by seniors across the country to want to age in place and live in their homes as they get older."
Local efforts are guided, in part, by California’s Master Plan for Aging, released in 2021.
The Little Hoover Commission, an independent state oversight agency created in 1962, was tasked with judging the plan’s roll-out so far. They held hearings last year, with testimony from experts like California Department of Aging Director Susan DeMarois, who addressed the changing face of caregiving.
“Historically, about 65% of all long-term care is provided by unpaid family members. We know that is not what's going to happen going forward,” DeMarois told commissioners. “Fewer children, children who do not live in the same community or even the same state, more working adult children who are not able to take time off of work to provide care to parents.”
The Commission published its findings in a recent report, calling the state’s efforts so far “ambitious” and “impressive,” noting the state has rolled out more than 220 initiatives.
“This is for everyone who is aging. We're all aging. We are aging from a time we're young,” said Dr. Carrie Graham in her testimony before the Commission. She’s Director of Aging and Disability Policy at the Center for Health Care Strategies. “There are healthy aging initiatives that, you know, are about prevention from the time you're younger.”
The Commission’s report offers specific recommendations to improve oversight and accountability of California’s Master Plan for Aging, saying, “California must better articulate a clear path forward for the Master Plan, with milestone targets and metrics that may be used to hold leaders accountable for progress.”
Dr. Boxer encourages people to make plans for declining health and mobility sooner rather than later.
“Many people don't think it's going to happen to them: that they're going to need extra support, that they're going to need assistance, and it sometimes takes them by surprise,” Boxer said. “If we're talking about those entering the 60s and 65-and-older, that's a time where usually people are pretty healthy and they're functional and they can enjoy things in life...The trouble starts, often, 85-and-older. And so that's often what we're seeing in the geriatrics program here, is people who are in that older age group and start to have issues that we really can help them manage.”
Coming up every Saturday morning in February, UC Davis is hosting its free, virtual “Mini Medical School” via Zoom. It’s part of the ‘Series on Healthy Aging’ and covers topics ranging from choices that support healthy aging to protecting our brains as we age and managing health conditions and medications. More information on these free, virtual classes is HERE.
Cities and counties across California are creating their own plans for aging communities.
Sacramento County, for example, joined AARP’s Age-Friendly Network of States and Communities. This comes as the California Department of Aging said the number of Sacramento County residents over the age of 60 is expected to increase 187% from 2010 to 2060.
By 2026 in Sacramento Country, “the older adult population will exceed the youth population. That will be the first time in history that that's ever happened," said Pam Miller, executive director of the Agency on Aging Area 4.
In 2023, Sacramento received a grant from the California Department of Aging to develop an Action Plan, which is the next stage of becoming an age-friendly community.
The city of Sacramento is currently seeking input on the latest draft of its Age-Friendly Community Action Plan. You can take a look and give input HERE.
California also recently launched its first-ever statewide survey of LGBTQIA+ older adults, to help identify that group’s unique needs and priorities. More information on that survey is HERE.
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