Marin faces challenge of ‘silver tsunami’

More than a decade ago, the Marin County Civil Grand Jury warned of a coming “silver tsunami,” when — then estimated to be by 2030 — more than one in every three residents will be 65 or older.

The purpose of the report was a call on county leaders to prepare for that shift.

A lot has been done since then to improve local services available to seniors, but a new county-commissioned study shows much more needs to be done, especially to close wide gaps of economic and racial disparities.

The county is not prepared for the study's prediction that those gaps will widen, especially among Marin's Latino population.

The study urges supervisors to create a new division of aging within the county Health and Human Services Department to make sure concerns regarding Marin's senior population are at the top of the department's priorities — that issues and challenges facing Marin's elderly are addressed as decisions are made.

The study predicts that the county needs to focus attention on its aging population in providing affordable housing, access to meals, accessible physical and mental health care, private home care and public transit. The important underlying message is that more needs to be done to reach seniors who need help and to assist them in getting it.

Marin has a number of hardworking nonprofits, community-driven senior programs and county initiatives, but the study says there are still wide economic and racial gaps in meeting local seniors' needs and many don't know what services are available to them or how to navigate getting them.

The intent of the study, based on surveys of local seniors and stakeholders involved in senior services, is that its findings and recommendations will play a role in local budget decisions and in seeking state, federal and private grants.

Interestingly, the report states that half of Marin's single-occupant homes are owned by someone over 65. That raises issues when it comes to their health and safety.

In many cases, due to the high cost of real estate in Marin, their immediate family members do not live close by.

On top of that is the prediction that the number of residents progressing through stages of Alzheimer's disease or dementia will continue to grow, rising along with the aging of Marin's population.

That raises the stakes even higher in terms of reaching seniors and getting them the help they and their families need. Another factor is the challenge of making that help easily accessible and affordable, especially as, according to the report, a larger share of Marin's growing senior population, especially Latinos, will be struggling to get by on lower incomes.

It is not uncommon across Marin that those seniors who live in those million-dollar homes could not afford to buy them at today's prices. In many cases, they are even priced out of apartments because today's rents are too high for their fixed incomes.

The study indicates that, even today, 25% of Marin residents qualify as low income.

The report was presented to the county Board of Supervisors at its Feb. 14 meeting.

After the meeting, Benita McLarin, county Health and Human Services department chief, said staff will be evaluating the report's recommendations for structural change.

Supervisor Mary Sackett suggested that a division of aging services be created as part of the department's executive team as a six- to 12-month period.

Certainly, the bureaucratic cost needs to be evaluated, but raising the issue of improving senior services as part of the department's decision-making protocol seems to make sense. The same goes for Board of Supervisors' decisions.

That change can be made without costly bureaucratic shuffling.

What's important is that supervisors show that the cost and time that was invested in the study is put to good use; that there is meaningful recognition of the human challenges facing our county and that leaders make being better prepared a higher priority.