Age Friendly Boston: Report to the Community

How can Boston become a more age-friendly city? It's a question that was posed to Boston residents last year, during neighborhood-based Listening Sessions and through a major online survey.

As part of its Age Friendly Initiative, the city of Boston and the Department of Elder Affairs sought to ask Bostonians what they wanted to see in the future to allow them to "age in place," thereby making Boston age-friendly.

Click here to read Age Friendly Boston Report Key Findings 

Boston residents were invited to speak up at one of 25 Listening Sessions held in neighborhood all across the city last year. All city residents age 50+ were also encouraged to respond to the city's Age-Friendly Boston Initiative Survey.

Today, staff from the city's Age Friendly Boston Initiative and the Elder Affairs Department gathered with Boston residents at the Old South Church to release the results from the Listening Sessions and the survey; more than 3,600 Bostonians responded to the survey.

Key findings include:

• An insufficient amount of housing is available to seniors in Boston, including housing with supports necessary for the elderly.

• About half of seniors are satisfied with the access and quality of health and social services in the city.

• The affordability of housing options to seniors is a barrier to maintaining one's home and to finding appropriate housing.

• Nearly 50 percent of all listening session recommendations centered on improving Boston's walkability.

• Feeling taken advantage of is one way seniors feel disrespected in their community.Seniors report a general lack of paid employment opportunities for seniors.

Click here to read Age Friendly Boston Report Key Findings from the report

Click here to read the full report:  Age Friendly Boston- Report to the Community.

Age Friendly Boston partners include AARP Massachusetts, Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh, the UMass Boston Gerontology Institute, and the Tufts Health Plan Foundation.