Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Age Friendly Communities topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Half Moon Bay council hears AARP Age-Friendly planning review; report recommends coalition-building, healthcare and housing steps
Summary
A Stanford master's thesis accepted as the city's age-friendly assessment recommends formalizing a volunteer coalition, improving outreach and focusing on healthcare access, housing assistance and business training in the 2025–2027 action plan.
Half Moon Bay officials on Wednesday received a summary of a city-supported Age-Friendly Communities planning project coordinated with AARP and the Center for Age-Friendly Excellence (CAFE). Sandy Winter, executive director of Senior CoSiders, presented findings from a mixed-methods study carried out as a master's thesis by a Stanford student and accepted by the university.
Winter said about 22% of Half Moon Bay residents are age 65 or older and that the study mapped city plans and policies against the AARP eight-domain livability framework. The project recommended formalizing a coalition to sustain volunteer-led work; strengthening non-digital and bilingual outreach; continuing a healthcare access advocacy project; and expanding housing assistance strategies, including encouraging ADUs and home-sharing and fast-tracking approvals.
"We really felt that it was important to think carefully about how we were going to structure ourselves as a group of volunteers who don't get paid, but can still be able to deliver the results," Winter said. The presentation noted local strengths—engaged civic participation, multi-channel bilingual communications, pedestrian and transportation projects and partnerships with nonprofits—and identified gaps in coastside healthcare access and coordinated evacuation/disaster planning for older residents.
Council members did not take action but expressed appreciation for the report and asked staff to continue implementing the 2025–2027 action plan, which Winter said includes business training, healthcare access, housing-information workshops and advocacy. The full action plan and the student's thesis were circulated to council and are available through city staff on request.
