Editorial: Marin must continue to address financial concerns of senior residents

County supervisors are devoting time to learn more about the needs of Marin’s growing population of seniors.

Residents over age 65 make up nearly one-third of the county’s populace. Most of them are baby boomers facing the varied challenges of growing older.

Recently, the supervisors heard the results of a county-commissioned survey that showed a growing number of seniors are worried about their financial security.

Some are putting off retirement. Those who are retired worry about making ends meet on their fixed incomes. They worry about making their Social Security checks and savings stretch far enough to meet the many needs they face as they grow older. For many, if it’s not keeping up with rent increases or medical expenses, it’s inflation-fueled prices they are seeing in stores or at the gasoline pump.

The survey showed that concern has grown from 13% to 29%, compared to the last survey in 2019. That’s significant. The survey pool included more minorities to make sure their concerns were fairly represented in the results.

Another area of increase is seniors worried about financial crime, financial abuse and scams.

They and their savings are all-too-common prey for cyber scams. The growth of artificial intelligence has stoked that fear.

Phone calls and emails offering help or unbelievable bargains sometimes are disguised ploys for data mining and theft.

Seniors’ worries ranged from climate change to whether they will be able to afford in-home or assisted-living care.

They also expressed a desire for more socialization.

Due to the high cost of living in Marin, their grown children and grandchildren often cannot afford to live nearby.

The question facing supervisors and other county leaders is, after hearing the results, what can they do about it?

There has been a recommendation that the county create a separate division in its Health and Human Services Department for older adult services so those issues get focused attention.

The county bureaucracy has been slow to react to that recommendation.

The answer doesn’t have to be another layer of costly bureaucracy, but rather making senior services and issues a clear priority in the county’s decision-making process.

Just asking the questions of how a county action or decision affects older residents or how county services can be directed to address needs of Marin senior citizens is a reasonable proactive strategy.

There’s also a growing concern about senior citizens facing homelessness and projections that Marin’s rate of seniors coming down with Alzheimer’s disease could rise to more than 10,000 – roughly 4% of the county’s population – by 2030.

The questions that need to be asked, on an ongoing basis, are not just for county supervisors, but ones local city and town leaders should ask, as well.

In some cases, experiences of isolation and being separated from local services and programs during the COVID-19 pandemic response put a spotlight on some of the issues facing local seniors. What we learned from that experience should shape our future strategies to address local issues and challenges.

At the same time, across Marin, as the county experiences what one civil grand jury once labeled “a silver tsunami,” that large slice of our population will be growing more diverse. That diversity – and its challenges – need to be addressed.

Conducting a relatively small community survey every five years may not be enough.

Results of the latest survey should be more than food for thought, but groundwork for action.