The City of Los Angeles currently has about 746,000 residents ages 60 and older, a number which is expected to rise to more than 1 million by the year 2030. But services for older adults have been scattered among more than a dozen different city departments and agencies, with little or no coordination among them, and no comprehensive listings of what’s available.
But yesterday, City Controller Ron Galperin released a new report on services for older adults in Los Angeles, as part of a larger “Purposeful Aging in Los Angeles” initiative launched by Mayor Eric Garcetti in 2016. The major recommendation in Galperin’s report was for the city to provide a comprehensive catalog of city resources available for older adults, and one was provided with the report. The list includes 242 programs for meals, housing, transportation, caregiving, classes and more. It’s the first time, said Galperin in a statement released with the report, that the city has provided “a comprehensive list of services and programs in a centralized location to ensure Angelenos are aware of services that are available.”
The report also provides two versions of the list – one sorted by clickable department/category links…and one scrollable in alphabetical order. The categories of services for older Angelenos, and/or departments providing those services, include Nutrition Supportive Services, Transportation Assistance, Family Caregiver Support, Health Insurance Counseling and Advocacy, Evidence-Based Programs, Ombudsman and Elder Abuse Prevention, Emergency Alerts, Community Service Employment, Project C.A.R.E., OASIS Program, Disability, Economic & Workforce Development, Emergency Management, Fire Department, Housing and Community Investment, Public Library, Neighborhood Empowerment, Recreation and Parks, Street Services, Transportation, Water and Power, Animal Services, the City Attorney, and Cultural Affairs.
“It’s vital that we do everything we can to serve as many people as we can,” Galperin said in his statement. “Every Angeleno deserves a City that works for them – now and tomorrow. With this database and common sense recommendations, we can get closer to ensuring L.A. is the age friendliest City in America.”
The overall report, titled “Engaging Older Angelenos: Making L.A. the Age Friendliest City in America,” Galperin also calls for a “more strategic, organized approach” to providing services for older residents, and asks the city agencies to do a better job of collaboration in providing these services without gaps or redundancies.
