Austin has fallen behind cities of a similar size when it comes to caring for its elders. It’s no longer in AARP’s top 10 cities to live in for older adults as of 2022. In fact, last year, it didn’t even make the top 25. That might not be top of mind, as the median age in Austin, TX is 34.5, and only about 10 percent of Austinites are over 65. But Austin’s status as Texas’ boomtown is slowing, and adults between the ages of 65 and 74 represented the fastest-growing age group between 2010 and 2020. By the time the tech bros reach middle age, it will be in their best interest to have quality senior services in place. 

In June, City Council directed the city manager to look into improving those services. According to a October 14 memo from Austin Public Health Director Adrienne Sturrup to Council on its progress, that will require more funding.

“While significant progress has been made, the effective and ongoing implementation of these initiatives is dependent on identifying and securing additional resources and budget across various departments,” wrote Sturrup. 

The Parks and Recreation Department already spends over $2.8 million on senior programming. In the memo this week, it cited a need for 18 full-time senior programmers and 4 new marketing staff to meet the need for new senior programming and ensure language access is adequate. That expansion would come at an annual cost of almost $2 million.

The history of Austin’s age-friendly services is relatively short. In 2016, Austin City Council adopted what they termed the “Age Friendly Action Plan” (AFAP), which was designed in partnership with AARP and more than 30 other organizations, to make Austin more supportive to its senior residents. But in 2022, a year after the first five-year update to the plan had been released, the city auditor did a survey of Austin’s older residents about how it was working and found large gaps.

One anonymous respondent who had worked with older adults for four years wrote that Austin seniors had been ”challenged by the pandemic and the increasing affordable housing crises.” The tech divide was another concern, one respondent noted with urgency: “Any older adult who is not on social media or uses email is highly in the dark about any city services.”

“Many of our seniors have moved to Williamson County due to cost of living,” said another respondent, echoing Austinites of all ages. “Housing costs are not affordable for someone who is on a fixed income.” Almost 70 percent said the city didn’t provide access to safe and affordable transportation options for older adults.

Even if the city did provide services, they were difficult to find. Almost 40 percent strongly disagreed with the statement that city services are findable for seniors “It’s virtually impossible to find and navigate this information,” said one of the respondents. “I can’t imagine that older adults are able to find the city programs and services pages at all. It is hard for me to navigate, and I know what I am looking for,” said another.

At the end of that audit report, the city auditor offered recommendations to establish a dedicated office for older adults (instead of one coordinator) and to provide better housing, senior centers, transportation, food, in-home care and fraud protection for that population. In 2022, Austin Public Health created a new department to carry out those goals, called Age-Friendly Austin (AFA), which is now in the process of recruiting older adults to participate in the update of the next plan for 2026-2030. 

In response to the June City Council resolution, the city pledged to fund financial literacy services that help seniors navigate things like Social Security or Veterans Assistance, through an annual $103,686 agreement with Family Eldercare. As seniors are at higher risk for fraud, the Austin Police Office of Community Liaison is planning to launch a “Seniors Fraud Awareness Month” in March 2026. PARD has held 153 multigenerational events at community gardens and family yoga classes over the last year. CapMetro is promising to address older residents as a “vital stakeholder” in its update to its 10-year Transit Plan 2035. (It already provides discounted fares and shuttle routes that connect residential living facilities to essential locations like grocery stores.) Just this September, Council approved funding for a new Austin Geriatric Center, and programming at the Asian American Resource Center for culturally responsive aging-in-place services. 

During budget hearings this summer, the parks department proposed that the temporary Gus Garcia Recreation Center Senior Wing project become a permanent expansion in order to address the need for more senior centers in Northeast Austin. The city has been considering this since 2023, as residents of District 4 noted then that it already acts as an overcrowded de facto senior center.

But most of these changes are competing for scarce funding from the city.

During the budget process this summer, Fuentes passed an amendment supporting Meals on Wheels Central Texas with $150,000 for home-delivered meals – contingent on the tax rate increase passing in the November election.

“Meals on Wheels has suffered some pretty serious federal cuts,” Council Member Vela said during budget hearings. “They have a really large and efficient operation, lots of volunteers, a great kitchen, just a really great institution – as the federal government steps away from supporting these kinds of institutions, if they’re going to survive, we’re going to, at least in the short term, have to have to step up and provide some support.” This week’s memo asks for $400,000 more in FY26-27 for Meals on Wheels, which would allow them to serve an estimated 290 more Austinites. 

As the City streamlines its aging services ahead of the five-year update to the AFAP in July 2026, the Commission on Aging has now added some clarifying guidelines in the form of an amendment at its October 8 meeting. The commission recommends “clear, quantifiable” metrics to measure if the City is making progress on its goals, and to assess if that progress is equitable across all demographics of older Austinites. Those metrics will become more necessary as the cost of providing these services becomes a pressing concern for a cash-strapped Council.

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