Old people are the future.

By 2030, one in four people in Santa Barbara County will be over the age of 60. And seven out of 10 will need care either at home or in a facility.

Margaret Weiss, project coordinator for the Independent Living Resource Center, gave an insightful report to the Santa Barbara City Council last week, sharing revealing details about people over 60 and their role in the community.

“The big thing that Santa Barbara is struggling with is that age diversity is getting worse,” Weiss said. “We know that is a problem; we know we don’t have the younger people and middle-aged people to work and support the older adults.”

Weiss explained that Santa Barbara’s housing crisis is hurting seniors as much as it is hurting people trying to buy homes for the first time. The report was designed to encourage Santa Barbara to consider seniors in its planning efforts, with a punchline that what seniors want is not that different from what young people and middle-aged people want.

The community, she said, is best with age diversity. She urged the city to plan its community with age-friendly and disability-friendly sensibilities. Neighborhoods should be walkable, with nearby stores, and convenient transportation options, she said.

And most of all, housing should be affordable.

“One in two people without housing are over the age of 50,” she said. The American Association of Retired Persons launched a master plan for seniors in Santa Barbara County in 2021. They have a “livability index” that ranks a community’s livability for seniors.

Santa Barbara received a score of 48 out of 100, but that is higher than the national average. The community that scored the highest was Aspen, Colorado, at 78. Communities were measured by issues such as housing, neighborhoods, transportation, environment, health, engagement and opportunity.

“It’s really about affordability and availability,” she said. “It’s a challenge in the community.”

Santa Barbara scored lowest in the areas of housing and opportunity, because income inequality is so high. She also said one in three have a disability, and one in three struggle in poverty. One in five have a chance of developing dementia, she said.

She urged Santa Barbara to take steps to be an “Age-Friendly Community,” as determined by AARP.

“That is an opportunity for Santa Barbara to consider,” she said.

Weiss said the good news is that city officials do not have to plan a different community for seniors and young people.

“A bonus that comes with an age-friendly community is that it turns out that all of these things older adults will tell you they want for their neighborhood, it turns out that is also what younger families say they want for the neighborhood,” she said.

The housing crisis, she said, hurts seniors and women.

“We are seeing more people, particularly women, lose their housing because of affordability,” Weiss said. “It’s very often tied to the fact that their Social Security does not really cover your living expenses in California, let alone Santa Barbara.”

And a lack of affordable housing hurts seniors because there won’t be anyone to take care of them. She said that efforts are underway to make caregiving a more prestigious career, with a higher pay rate, through work-training programs, but that’s still a big mountain to climb.

“We do not have, today, have the number of paid caregivers that we need to take care of older adults,” she said. “That problem if you look at projections it is only going to get worse for some time to come.”

Santa Barbara City Councilwoman Kristen Sneddon said she appreciated the report.

“This is the presentation I had no idea I needed to hear,” Sneddon said. “It’s amazing.”