Seniors in one Bay Area community want to stay in their communities, but many find the cost of living and maintaining older homes prohibitive.
A survey of senior residents in Palo Alto, California found that “most respondents overwhelmingly desire to "age in place," or live in their own homes as they advance in age,” but the cost and variety of housing options is making it difficult for many Americans.
As Elizabeth Lorenz explains in Palo Alto Online, out of 52 areas compared to national benchmarks in the survey, the three that were sub-par in Palo Alto were all related to housing and cost of living, with only 10 percent of respondents saying affordable, quality housing is accessible in their community. “Close to 30% have ‘housing stress,’ meaning they spend 30% or more of their income on housing.”
Avenidas, a senior citizen center in Palo Alto, offers a program called Avenida Village that creates opportunities for social connection and provides resources to senior residents. They also created a home maintenance program aimed at helping seniors fix up aging homes and add accessibility retrofits.
Read the full story: The age of uncertainty: How seniors are 'aging in place'
Opinion: Housing Reforms Critical for Older Americans
Older adults are some of the most vulnerable to threats of eviction and displacement driven by escalating housing costs.
Great Cities Don’t Just Acknowledge That We Age In Them — They Build For It. We Can Too.
We age in sidewalks, public spaces, transit stops, and community centers — not in hospitals. As populations age, the built environment will determine whether our cities thrive or struggle in the decades ahead.
Building Age-Friendly Homes
Designing for the unique needs of elderly people can help them maintain social connections and mental acuity.
Planetizen Federal Action Tracker
A weekly monitor of how Trump’s orders and actions are impacting planners and planning in America.
California plans to bury El Niño’s downpour
If the state plays its cards right, it may be able to store a billion acre-feet of El Niño’s water in aquifers.
Desperate measures: Advocates weigh draining Lake Powell to fill Colorado River
Draining the reservoir could reduce evaporation losses by a couple hundred thousand acre-feet.
US buildings threatened, destroyed by fires set to triple by 2060
Researchers found a high fire risk for socioeconomically vulnerable neighborhoods in the American West.
LA residents may be allowed to paint their own crosswalks
Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky put out a motion instructing the Los Angeles Department of Public Transportation to study the feasibility of allowing volunteers to paint crosswalks.
Dallas moves to overhaul its zoning code
The city's zoning reform will allow more multi-family and mixed-use developments.
FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?
After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.
Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold
The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.
City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority