For three decades, San Jose has been aware of and planning for the coming age wave. In 1994, the City of San José initiated the development of an Aging Services Master Plan, Planning for the Age Wave, through which housing, information, language, health care, transportation, in-home care, caregiver support, senior center programs, leadership, coordination, and funding were identified as top needs.
In 2005, the City joined with Santa Clara County to develop a comprehensive 10-year plan for the coming “senior tsunami”. A Community for a Lifetime 2005-2015, added other critical issues facing the elderly to the list of concerns.
The issues and needs of San Jose’s older adults have not changed appreciably since the original 1994 master plan, although gains have been made in number of areas. Housing and transportation programs are critical to San Jose’s seniors, and the City already is investigating new ways to house seniors and raise funds for affordable housing. San Jose is engaged with the Valley Transportation Authority, County of Santa Clara and other community partners to create new transportation options for seniors. In addition, San Jose developed Vision Zero to reduce traffic fatalities and provide safe streets. With new funds approved by voters in June 2016, San Jose will upgrade the parks and repair streets and walkways—so critical to seniors’ safety and travel. The City’s senior centers continue to be hubs for information, nutrition, fitness, health, and social engagement, and San Jose is committed to creating new programs and expanding outreach to more seniors. The Age Friendly domains encourage San Jose to re-evaluate its current plans, to integrate age-friendly efforts where feasible and create a stronger cohesion of services that aligns community partners and city departments to make San Jose Age Friendly.