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Douglas County announces $1.5 million in new services for older adults
Summary
Douglas County commissioners unveiled a package of programs and funded initiatives after a 2023–24 listening tour, including a mailed resource guide, a housing navigator seed grant and expanded service partnerships.
Commissioner Kevin Van Winkle announced that Douglas County is investing $1,500,000 in new services aimed at helping older residents remain in their homes and stay connected to county resources. The announcement came during an older-adult town hall hosted by the county.
The funding is the result of outreach conducted in 2023 and 2024, when commissioners held listening sessions at locations across the county and fielded a survey that drew 354 responses. “You told us your priorities were transportation, housing, in-home services, and information. We heard you,” Commissioner Kevin Van Winkle said at the meeting.
County officials said the package includes a combination of direct service funding and seed money to support new programs. Among the items described at the town hall were 85,000 printed copies of a vetted resource guide to be mailed to older adults across the county, seed funding for a housing navigator position at the Douglas County Housing Partnership, and matching funds to support a housing needs assessment.
Staff and panelists — including representatives from Aging Resources of Douglas County, the Douglas County Housing Partnership and nonprofit service providers — described the resource guide as a vetted list of providers that will be distributed countywide and made available online at the county website. Carrie Erickson of Aging Resources said the organization fields roughly “a thousand phone calls a month” and will use the guide as a central referral resource.
Speakers repeatedly emphasized that the new investments respond directly to items raised during the listening tour rather than creating long-term entitlements. Officials encouraged residents who need help navigating benefits or property-tax relief to call county lines or the resource organizations introduced at the event.
The town hall included a question-and-answer segment in which staff directed residents with property-tax concerns to the Douglas County Assessor’s Office and to the county public assistance line. County staff also discussed the limits of local authority on property taxes and mentioned state-level changes to tax law that affected local levies.
County officials said the town hall was part of an ongoing outreach effort; the recorded meeting and the online resource guide will remain available through the county website for residents who could not attend.
