10-28-1992 Council Agenda - Laserfiche WebLink

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65 -plus Americans own their own homes, added that 80 percent of the homes are mortgage -free. This holds true generally for both urban and suburban jurisdic- tions. "Yet," adds the report. for many elderly. homeownership 1s at best a mixed blessing. Often, older homeowners find themselves living in dwellings that are too large and expensive to maintain. Without sufficient access to needed support services. such as home repair. winterization. yard work. and housekeeping, their dream of a single family home can become a nightmare." For elderly renters, even more complex problems are likely to emerge. Older suburban renters tend to have lower income than homeowners, and a higher per- centage of Income goes for hous- ing. Renters tend to be single women. The report gives a number of suggested actions to increase or improve housing opportunities, among them home equity conver- sion, home maintenance pro- grams. subsidized housing..and adapting vacant or underutilized buildings for new housing. It adds: "While the housing alternatives listed here represent individually a small response to the overall hous- ing problem of the urban and sub- urban elderly. a comprehensive housing strategy including inter - Jurisdictional cooperation and metropolitan-wide planning, can formulate an integrated strategy to meet this need." Transportation options Adequate and accessible trans- portation services emerged as one of the top three concerns by city and county survey respondents. Public transportation, noted the report, is usually "minimally use- ful" to the suburban elderly be- cause "bus service in surburban areas is generally designed to accommodate peak hour commut- ing trips to and from the central business district with little or no service during off -peak hours to outlying surburban centers." Respondents' Concerns Priority Concerns, Needs of Older Persons In Suburban Jurisdictions Priority Areas Home & Community-Based Care Support Services Transportation Chronic & Acute Care Housing Employment/Economic Security Information & Referral Other Leisure/Cultural/Recreation Mental Health Protective Services CITIES COUNTIES Ranking ( %) Ranking (%) 1 24 4 14 3 15 5 12 2 18 6 7 7 5 10 2 8 4 9 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 6 7 8 29 20 17 14 10 8 8 5 2 7 5 5 Source: Graying of Suburbia: Policy Implicationsfor Local Officials. United States Conference of Mayors, National Association of Counties: Washington, D.C., 1988. This chart sums up findings from a major NACoIUSCM survey of municipal and county officials. 10 PERSPECTIVE ON AGING Page 44 Private taxi companies. if avail- able at all, are usually too ex- pensive for frequent trips. Special transportation services are often restricted to specific in- come groups or special purposes. As for the omnipresent sub- urban automobile, older drivers are often discouraged off the road by higher insurance premiums. rigid tests in some states to renew licenses, or loss of confidence be- cause of perceived decline in their own physical performance. The report gives examples of demand - responsive systems to carry passengers to specific de- signations, as well as transporta- tion subsidies and fare reduc- tions. It adds: "Through the development of part- nerships between the public. pri- vate. and nonprofit sectors, these suburban communities have es- tablished coordtnated transporta- tion to insure that their communi- ty remains a 'dynamic social sys- tem' for their old as well as their young residents." Metropolitan -wide planning') In one way, the USCM -NACo re- port observed, planners and policymakers should have it easier as suburbia ages: The younger population will dwindle. This should mean "a decrease in public spending tor such facilities as schools—and-playgrounds. wine in- creasing spending for senior cen- ters and elderly nousibg." Ewen so, the planners will have much else to consider. Service needs of the fast - growing "old -old," for example, will zoom. In addi- tion: ...local officials must recognize that services for the elderly are cross - cutting, directly interrelating with many multidisciplinary needs, such as housing, income security, health care, and transportation. When developing policies and ser- vice delivery systems in these areas, there is a critical need to involve pollcymakers and program direct- ors from various disciplines to reex- amine the effectiveness of the cur- rent planning processes, and exist- ing administrative systems both at the community and metropolitan level."