Americans are living longer, but that doesn’t mean they’re living well. Officials in New York’s Capital Region recently joined senior support organizations to discuss efforts to address aging issues.
A report from Manhattan-based think tank Center for an Urban Future says the share of New Yorkers over 65 is at its largest ever. “Keeping Pace with an Aging New York State” highlights an increase of more than 800,000 over-65 New Yorkers, while nearly half a million under-65 New Yorkers left the state between 2011 and 2021.
Saratoga County had the second-highest growth in that population state-wide, more than 50 percent.
Coupled with that boom in older population is a spike in poverty. About 300,000 older New Yorkers lived below the poverty line in 2011. That number grew to 416,000 a decade later. The report also finds there is significant racial disparity, with poverty among older minorities outpacing that of older white New Yorkers.
In Albany County alone, the over-65 population spiked 32 percent from 2011 to 2021, causing a myriad of challenges. County Executive Dan McCoy, a Democrat, says the county needs to modernize its approach.
“As we struggle to talk about affordable housing, we have to, in how we’re going to build, we have to think how we're going to build, we have to look at the way we do community centers that fit people's incomes and different levels of people's income. And make sure we have the transportation, we need the bus services, you need a walkable community, a bikeable community,” McCoy said.
The report finds nearly one in eight older New Yorkers is living in poverty. But AARP New York Director Beth Finkel says many are not accessing available benefits.
“200,000 people still in New York state are eligible for SNAP and they're not getting it. On top of that is, are they using the medical deduction?” Finkel asked.
With this in mind, McCoy says cost of living is key.
“It always comes down to how much money they have to spend in retirement, and what's the cheapest place and the good quality life where they can go and retire as seniors and not worry about crime,” McCoy said.
That’s especially true for Albany County, where people over 50 make up more than a third of the population. Nationally, that amounts to 10,000 Baby Boomers turning 65 every day.
Local officials joined senior support organizations to discuss the report at a recent forum in Albany, part of a series of roundtable discussions in Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse intended to unite government with everyday people.
Greg Olsen, Acting Director of the New York State Office for the Aging, says 83 percent of all household wealth generated in the country is held by older adults. That breaks out to 63 percent of New York’s GDP.
“They support 7 million jobs and represent 38 percent of the state tax base and 42 percent of the county tax base. 72 percent own their own homes with no mortgage, sitting on $8 trillion of home equity,” Olsen said.
Olsen adds there’s additional financial benefit to keeping people in their homes as they age.
“We can keep a nursing home-level eligible individual in their homes for five to seven years at $8,000 a year, how much does a nursing home cost? $180,000,” Olsen said.
Rachael Neches is a data researcher with the Center for an Urban Future. She says the aging population is also increasingly diverse.
“Statewide, the number of foreign-born older adults increased by 42 percent, far outpacing U.S.-born adults, who increased by 27 percent,” Neches said.
Albany County Legislator Carolyn McLaughlin represents the 1st District and chairs the Elder Care Committee. She says there isn’t enough diversity in elder care or elder care representation.
“There was not a Hispanic person speaking, there was not an African American person speaking today, at the front of the room, giving out this information,” McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin adds culturally-sensitive care is key.
“Even 10, 20 years ago, people of color typically did not put- long term care was not an issue. Aging was not an issue, other than the fact that you know, I take care of grandma, grandma takes care of my grandkids, and everybody just takes care of each other. But with the sandwich generation that we have now, all hands on deck, all access to resources need to be applied to taking care of our aging community,” McLaughlin said.
McLaughlin says governmental outreach needs to be expanded.
“There needs to be a sort of a, a constituency group that is put together, that is going to go out and identify the diversity in this community, that aging, diversity on population, be it African American, and Hispanic, so that we can get this information,” McLaughlin said.
You can find the full report from the Center for an Urban Future here.
