AARP’s Advocacy in the First State: Looking back, looking ahead

As 2024 comes to a close, AARP Delaware’s advocacy work hasn’t slowed down. We’ve won in our efforts to advocate for you as 2024 bills are signed. We’ve been supporting local efforts to create affordable housing throughout the summer and fall. Here’s a re-cap and a look ahead:

 In 2024,

· AARP led the effort to pass a bill educating consumers about the risks of gift card scams.

· We helped to pass a package of bills to raise standards in long term care facilities.

· We supported a bill to ensure that people with disabilities have access to voting in our state, and we’ve already seen improvements during the 2024 election.

· We aided passage of bills to encourage more affordable housing to meet the needs our growing older population.

· We helped to pass new protections for renters and create a revolving fund to help low-income residents pay for home repairs.

· We helped to ensure the state’s Digital Equity Plan included support for older Delawareans who need access to broadband and other supports to stay connected.

· And, we helped to secure funding for a new retirement savings program, Delaware EARNS, so younger workers can easily save for retirement.

We’ve also been supporting more options for “missing middle housing” – house-scale buildings with multiple units, located in walkable neighborhoods. Since AARP began working on housing issues, all three counties in Delaware and also the town of Lewes have loosened restrictions on which are accessory dwelling units ((mother-in-law suites) and New Castle County passed an ordinance to allow “pocket neighborhoods”. These are clustered groups of smaller houses gathered around a shared open space—some call it a “neighborhood within a neighborhood”. Creative ideas like this will allow more people to age in their communities and stay connected with their neighbors and the activities they enjoy.

 In 2025,

 As we ring in the New Year, our work will continue. We will support a bill guaranteeing sick time to Delaware workers, which stalled in committee last year. You can expect efforts to pass a statewide ADU (accessory dwelling units or mother-in-law suites) bill; and a bill that will homeowners to transfer their property to a beneficiary without a will.

In 2025, AARP Delaware will continue working to enact recommendations from the 2024 Caregiving Task Force. We’ll also stay connected with the Caucus on Aging, the Affordable Housing Production Task Force, and the Delaware Voting Rights Coalition. We’ll keep pushing to make Delaware’s communities more livable by supporting improvements in transportation, walkability, and age-friendly housing. And unfortunately, there is an ongoing need to prevent fraud, so we plan to host shred events, tele-town halls, and other fraud prevention events throughout the year.

 

Ji?? Fl?gel/Getty Images/Hemera

If you’d like to learn more about our work, check out the First State Action Blog or email sagrant@aarp.org for a link to the First State Advocacy Team’s 3^rd Thursday Zoom Call. It’s a great way to catch up on local issues, You will meet other dedicated advocates and learn what you can do to make life better here in Delaware.